The Truth
by readbetweenthesigns
Summary: The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the...well, maybe the occasional lie. Did you ever wonder what happened after Puck and Quinn sang Just Give Me A Reason and made their announcement? I did, this is what happened in my mind... M for language and minor content, in progress, a short look at Quick in the future.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied.**

**A/N: Puck worked hard to hide the shock, he hadn't heard such a big lie leave her lips since the whole 'babygate' scandal...**

"...since, you know, we never actually dated," Quinn said with a shy, breathless, nervous little giggle. Puck only just stopped himself from giving the biggest eye roll of the century and calling her out as a liar, but he was so smitten with her that he let it slide. For now.

* * *

><p>Puck opened the door for Quinn to precede him into Breadstix. "Table for two, please," he requested of the hostess and then turned to Quinn, he sighed as he admired the way her pretty red dress moulded her figure, showed off her assets and then flared at her hips, accentuating the parts of her that she thought were her best features, disguising the parts of her that she thought were her worst. Puck didn't think she had any worst parts, he thought her body was amazing, all of it and he thought he knew how to remind her of that, and he would, as soon as they were alone. "So, do you remember what you actually said in the choir room today?" he asked her.<p>

"Ye-es," Quinn replied, with a touch of uncertainty since she'd said quite a few things and she didn't know exactly which item Puck was referring to.

"You lied to them all and you never even blushed," Puck accused with a hushed laugh. Puck had to admit that he was slightly impressed, he'd never known Quinn to lie, not properly lie, not really...except of course the time when she lied about who had gotten her pregnant...and when she didn't tell anyone that she could walk again after her car accident...and when she tried to get Shelby Corcoran arrested for being a bad mother. Apart from those few times...and well, maybe a few more...

"What do you mean, I lied to them?" Quinn demanded, outraged at the accusation. "I did not lie," she denied, full of righteous indignation.

"Oh, you so did," Puck countered with a huge grin. "You told everyone in that choir room that we never dated before, remember?" he reminded her.

"Oh, that," Quinn muttered and pulled a face as she tried to think of a way to talk herself out of that particular tight spot. "Well, maybe I _exaggerated_ a little, but I didn't _lie_," she repeated. "We lived together, we slept together, but we never _actually_ went out on a _date,_" she insisted without giving Puck any eye contact.

"No," Puck conceded in a silky smooth voice, "you're right, we didn't, but we _were_ together as a couple for just about the whole of our high school lives, and we sure fucked a lot," he added quietly with a grin that Quinn couldn't help but share, "we just kept it a secret. Remember when my Nana Connie caught us?" he whispered near her ear, they both giggled a little at the memory.

"Oh, that was so embarrassing," Quinn mumbled with a shake of her head before following the hostess to the table.

"When does your mom get home from her Jesus booze cruise?" Puck asked as he sat down opposite her.

Quinn looked up from the menu that she was studying, like she didn't know it off by heart already. "It's either the day after tomorrow, or the day after that, depending on the weather, why?" she answered.

"Because there's no way my mom will let us sleep together at my house, so we either sleep at yours while your mom's out of town or the motel," Puck replied, and there was going to be a sensible solution to the issue, he would not accept Quinn going home to sleep alone just for him to lie awake all night in his own lonely bed, pining for her. Even if they didn't actually consummate their new-found relationship, he _was _going to sleep with her in his arms all night, just like he used to when she was pregnant with Beth and living at his house. Puck still savoured the memory of those nights, and all the ones that followed, the ones where they'd secretly, sneakily, found their way into each other's beds.

* * *

><p>"Hey Lydia," Quinn called as she entered Puck's house just before him. "It's so good to see you," she said as the older woman drew her close for a hug. "You're looking very well," she complimented.<p>

"Thank you, Quinn," Puck's mom replied. "And you too, Yale seems to be suiting you," she told the slightly blushing blonde and then looked over Quinn's shoulder at her son. "See? _That _is how a greeting is supposed to be," Lydia Puckerman informed her son. "He _never _comes in and says anything nice," she grumbled to Quinn. "I'm lucky if I even get a grunt when he walks in and then I don't hear from him or see him for weeks and weeks till he walks back in and grunts again." Puck didn't respond to his mother's grumbling, he was used to it. "So what brings you here with my wonderfully eloquent son?" she asked, taking a seat in the lounge and encouraging Quinn to take one also.

Puck sat down beside Quinn on the sofa and took her hand in his. "We thought we'd tell you first, before you hear it from anywhere or anyone else," he said with a sigh and a roll of his eyes because he felt sure that Jake's mom would have been on the phone already if Jake had spilled the beans to her. Tanisha was well aware of the whole 'Quick' saga, she had counselled and helped Puck to come to terms with the losses in his life, helped him to see that they weren't his fault, not his dad leaving, not Shelby taking Beth away, not Quinn leaving to go to college, not even Finn. Tanisha had also encouraged Puck, after finding out what really interested him, she'd encouraged him to take the steps into the air force that had brought him to where he was today, employed, proud, respectful and respected. "Quinn and I have decided to make a go of it," he began and had to stop for a second as his heart seemed to skip a beat, he was excited for this. "We know that it's going to be tough, there's going to be times when we can't even communicate because of my job, but we love each other, we always have and we both agree that it's worth it, that _we're_ worth it," he finished as his warm gaze found Quinn's shy one, they both smiled at each other. "I know that you won't want us to stay here together," he added as he made a move to stand up, intending to pick up his bag from his room to spend the rest of the week with Quinn before he had to report back to base on Sunday.

"Why wouldn't I?" Lydia asked. "You're both adults, you've both been through so much, I would think that you know your own minds and do you really think I was that naïve that I wouldn't realise that you slept together for almost three years?"

Puck stared at his mother with his mouth agape. "You knew and you never said anything?" he demanded.

"What do you suggest I should have said?" Lydia cried, she spread her hands wide and shrugged her shoulders up, typical Jewish mother style.

"I don't know," Puck replied, a little freaked out actually that his mother was so au fait with his sex life. Or rather, his _former_ sex life and soon to be _only _sex life.

"At least when you were here or at Quinn's house, we knew you were safe," Lydia informed them both.

Quinn blushed even harder, her hands flew up to cover her face. "We? You mean my mom knows as well?" she asked in a tiny, tiny voice.

"Yes," Lydia reluctantly admitted. "But both Judy and I agreed that we wouldn't say anything to either of you, you'd either tell us in your own time or this thing between you would blow itself out."

"So much for us being discreet," Quinn muttered to Puck. She looked down at her lap and drew in a deep breath. "So you have no objections to me staying here with Puck, for the rest of the week?" she asked quietly.

"No objections," Lydia agreed with a slight smile, she looked at her son's blushing face. "She's the only one who has ever made you think of someone other than yourself," she told him. Puck couldn't quite keep his tiny laugh in, he snorted just a little and nodded, yes, he had to agree, Quinn was the one for him, his soul mate. "Have you eaten already?" Lydia asked, beginning to rise from her seat.

"Yes, we ate at Breadstix," Puck replied, stopping his mother from getting up. "I called earlier, Jenna said she'd already eaten with Nana Beth and she said that you were going out with the girls from work, so we went to Breadstix," he explained. "We might as well go to your house and collect a bag for you," he added, looking at Quinn for her agreement. "I'm going to go change."

"Hi," Jenna, Puck's young sister cried as she came down the stairs. "Quinn, hi," she said again, she was clearly happy to see Quinn, it was evident in the tight hug that she gave her. "What are you doing here with him again?" she asked, throwing a sneer in the direction of her older brother. "I thought you'd gone away to college, Noah says so all the time, he talks about you all the time when he's home on leave and sometimes even when he just calls to keep in touch he says your name and he always sounds sad when he says it," she whittered on, till Puck slapped his hand over her mouth to stop the deluge of words.

"That's enough," Puck managed to say through gritted teeth. "Ignore her, she had Froot Loops for breakfast," he excused his sister. Quinn tried to hide the smile that threatened to break into a big beaming grin, Puck tried to hide the flush of embarrassment that coloured his cheeks, Lydia did nothing to disguise the squawk of laughter that burst forth. Puck shoved away from his sister, rolled his eyes and headed for the stairs. "Coming?" he asked over his shoulder, Quinn nodded and followed.

* * *

><p>"So you talk about me all the time, huh?" Quinn fished as she lay back on Puck's bed and watched him change out of his uniform ready to get into his civvies, it had been a long time since she'd seen his ass in jeans and if she was being 100% honest, the sight of his ass in jeans always made her mouth go dry. Quinn licked her lips, she felt her pulse jump in her throat, felt her heart skip a beat, she felt herself begin to glow. "You really are very handsome," she said quietly as her gaze traveled down his sculpted, muscled, classically v-shaped back, past the tattoo on his shoulder blade that honoured Finn, past his narrow waist and came to rest on his tight, boxer-clad butt. Puck paused and looked over his shoulder, his hands halted, his pants still half on and half off the hanger. "You know you are, you know that girls are attracted to you, guys are too, actually," she grinned as Puck gave her a surprised look.<p>

"I think about you all the time," Puck confirmed as he stalked towards the bed, his uniform now hanging in his closet. "Every day and every night, I think about you," he admitted and leaned over her, placed himself directly above her. "And the things you do to me in my dreams, God," he sighed as he dipped to kiss her, "they've got to be illegal."

"Noah," Jenna shouted as she opened his bedroom door, "Jake said..."

"Get out," Puck yelled and fell to the side to bring Quinn across him to hide his exceedingly excited body. "Jesus, she has no boundaries," he muttered under his breath.

"Jenna, can you give us a minute?" Quinn asked nicely, Jenna nodded sadly. "Don't be mean to her, she probably wasn't expecting you to be in your underwear and on top of me, now was she?"

"Probably not," Puck sighed, he hated that Quinn was probably right and he hated that he'd probably hurt his sister's feelings. "Jenna, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you," he called towards the closed door, demonstrating once again that he was a much more mature, tolerant person than he'd ever been before.

"Can I come in yet?" Jenna asked.

"Just a sec," Puck replied and pushed himself up and off the bed. "We have to go pick up your stuff anyway," he reminded both himself and Quinn. Puck glanced down to make sure he wasn't going to embarrass himself or shock his sister. He would. Puck grabbed his pants and almost emasculated himself when he fastened them up, he dragged his t-shirt on and left it hanging loose to further cover the evidence of his desire for Quinn.

"Can I come in _now_?" Jenna asked, she sounded exasperated.

"Minute," Puck called and pressed his lips against Quinn's. "Just a minute," he whispered, "feel that?" he murmured as he pressed his body against her. "When we get to your house, we are so going to make the most of this."

"I can deal with that," Quinn grinned and touched Puck's lips with the tip of her tongue. "Let Jenna in and see what she wants, then we can go get my stuff," she urged. "Hey, sweetie," she said as Puck opened the door wide enough for Jenna to push past.

"Hi, can I ask you something?" Jenna asked Quinn.

"Sure," Quinn replied.

"Are you and my brother going to get married?" Jenna asked, Puck almost passed out.

"Woah," Puck cried and looked at Quinn in shock. Quinn gulped, her eyes locked with Puck's. Puck blinked and swallowed, hard. "Maybe," he said quietly, without taking his eyes from Quinn. The smile on Quinn's face began slowly but it was enormously bright. "I mean, not yet," Puck qualified, the smile on Quinn's face still didn't dim, "but one day, maybe," he said with the start of a grin and shrugged.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Quinn replied, but she was still grinning.

"Huh," Jenna pouted and slumped onto Puck's bed.

"Why?" Puck asked, wondering what the sudden grumpy mood was all about.

"No reason," Jenna replied, but her tone clearly said something different.

"What's going on, Jenna?" Quinn asked quietly and sat beside the young girl.

"Come on, Jenny Wren," Puck said, and sat down on Jenna's other side. "S'up?" he asked and jiggled her leg until she looked at him. "Something's going on," he informed Quinn over the top of Jenna's head. "She's never usually this quiet," he said with a wink.

"It's just," Jenna began and then paused.

"It's just what?" Puck asked.

"It's not fair, that's all," Jenna pouted.

"What's not fair?" Puck sighed, he looked at Quinn and crossed his eyes, pulled a face. This was like pulling teeth, it didn't look like Jenna would want to get to the point any time soon.

"Maddy, she's going to be impossible now," Jenna grumbled, naming her best friend.

"Why? What's up with Maddy?" Puck asked, concerned about his little sister.

"Her sister is getting married and she's going to be a bridesmaid and she gets to sit at the top table and have champagne on her toast or something," Jenna grumbled. "And Jake said he saw you and Quinn kissing in the hall at school and in the choir room and then you came here and mom says you're staying here with Noah till he goes back to base," she said, looking at Quinn with hope in her eyes, "and I kind of hoped that it would all mean that you're getting married," she paused to take a breath, her words had sped up to get everything out in one go. "And I might have called Maddy to tell her that you're getting married before her sister so I'll be a bridesmaid first," she admitted.

"And you don't want to have to tell her tomorrow that we're not," Puck concluded with a huge sigh. "That isn't going to make us rush into this," he warned Jenna and grabbed her to hug her. "I love Quinn and yes, one day I do want to marry her, but we've only just started going out, like today, and you can't rush these things," he advised Jenna and watched the pout get bigger. "You can pout and sigh all you want, it's not happening, not yet, alright?"

"Plus I have to finish college first," Quinn said, adding another stumbling block, "and your brother has to work his way up in the air force, things are really busy for us right now and he's right, you know, we have a lot to re-learn about each other," she added and placed her hand on his cheek. "But first, we have to go over to my house to collect my stuff, and then we'll call and collect ice cream before we come home, ok?" she offered and chucked Jenna under the chin, seeing the offer of ice cream brightening the young girl's smile.

"Fine," Jenna sighed. "And mom said there's a letter for you Noah, it's in the bureau," she added and then skipped out of his room, leaving Puck and Quinn alone.

"She never changes, does she?" Puck sighed as he watched the direction of Jenna's travel, straight to the stairs that led up to the attic. "She'll play up there till we get back then she'll come downstairs dressed in something weird from fifty years ago and eat ice cream while wearing a dead animal on her head. Ok, let's get going," he said as he stood up and reached out a hand to Quinn.

"Don't you want to read your letter first?" Quinn asked, she knew that she would be insanely curious as to what the letter held if it had been hers, she loved receiving letters, they were so much better than emails.

"I'll check it before we go, come on," Puck replied, indulging Quinn's nosy streak somewhat. As soon as they got downstairs, Puck collected his mail from the ancient oak bureau, one that had been handed down the generations. Puck stayed silent as he read the contents.

"What is it?" Quinn asked, she really wanted to read it for herself because the emblem on the outside of the envelope looked suspiciously like the logo of her dad's company and it pushed every curiosity button she'd ever had. She squinted to see it a bit better. Yep, it definitely was. What the hell was her dad's company doing writing to Puck? "What's in the letter?" she asked innocently, glancing away from Puck as he made an effort to mask the envelope.

"Nothing, nothing, it's...er...it's nearly all, no, no it's nothing, nothing for you to worry about," Puck hedged, waffling on to distract Quinn. It had the opposite effect.

"Now I _know_ it's something," Quinn announced and stood with her arms folded and looked at Puck, slowly she allowed her eyebrow to lift, just the left one, just a touch. "So do you want to tell me why you're receiving mail from my dad's company?" she asked quietly. Puck sighed, he knew when retreat was the better way to win the battle. He handed the letter over to Quinn. "This is a payment plan," she stated and looked at the date when it had started, the figures that had been added sporadically and the figures that had been subtracted regularly to leave a current balance of just over three thousand dollars."What's going on here?" she asked, she felt slightly sick, who was paying who?

Puck sighed again very heavily. "See the date when this started?" he asked her, Quinn checked, the date and the first payment was about a week after she'd left Finn's house to move into Puck's. "After Finn found out about us, he went to your dad," he explained, he really wasn't sure why Finn had done that, it was something he'd never explained, and Puck had never asked, he just assumed it was in a fit of jealous temper. "Anyway, he told your dad that he wasn't the one who did it, you know?" he muttered and looked away, embarrassed a little at bringing all this up again. "Your dad contacted me," Puck admitted, "he said that he was prepared to keep you as a dependent on his medical insurance so that you would get the care that you needed, but he wanted me to pay the costs, so that's what I've been doing," he explained. "And it's now down to the last three grand," he grinned, "which makes it sound worse than it is, but before I joined the air force, I never really had a proper, regular income, so although I paid up every month, the amounts were varied, I paid what I could afford," he pointed out. "Now that I can pay a decent amount every month, I'm nearly done with it," he said with a proud smile, and he was proud of himself, he might never have made a song and dance about it, but he'd never had any intention of not supporting Quinn or providing for her.

"How the hell did it get to that amount?" Quinn asked, seeing two extremely large amounts in the plus column just after the date of Beth's birth. "I mean, I guess that's the bill from the hospital, but I don't see why there should be two bills," she added, puzzled by the figures.

"Your dad added on the legal costs," Puck sighed, he knew, from the look on Quinn's face that she was pissed, seriously pissed, he hoped it wasn't at him. "He told me that it was my responsibility to take care of that too."

"Legal costs?" Quinn demanded, she was so livid she could barely get the words out. "No," she added with her eyes closed and held her hand up to stop Puck. "The adoption, right?" she sighed. Quinn opened her eyes to see Puck nod slowly. "I cannot _believe_ that man," she hissed. "He told me _he'd_ taken care of all of this, he told me to keep using his insurance details," she growled and snatched her phone from her purse. "You better believe you are done paying this," she informed Puck as she scrolled for her dad's number. "Answer then, asshole," she muttered into her phone, all the while she was tapping her foot, her entire body language screamed _I am so pissed you better stay out of my way_. Puck was clever enough to give Quinn a little space, not enough so that he wouldn't hear what she was saying to her dad, but enough. "Ah, thank you for finally taking my call," she said sarcastically. If Russell Fabray had any sense of self-preservation, he would know straight away that he was on a hiding to nothing. "You bet your ass there's something wrong with little Quinnie," she growled at her dad. "How dare you do that?" she demanded. "How dare you?"

"How dare I do what?" Russell asked, Quinn had put the call on speaker, so at least Puck would hear what lies Russell came up with.

"How dare you bill Puck for something that was half my fault?" Quinn demanded. "And actually, as your daughter, as a dependent, it was entirely your financial responsibility, not Puck's," she told her dad. "Plus, you totally lied to me about it," she shouted.

"Why?" Russell demanded. "What has he been saying to you?" he asked. "I didn't even know you were in contact with him," he muttered.

"So not the point, dad," Quinn sighed. "I have, in front of me, a statement detailing every single payment that Puck has made to you since January of 2010," she explained. "And I cannot believe that you expected a sixteen-year-old to pay nearly seventeen thousand dollars. And then to add insult to injury, you skanked him with your lawyers costs on top and I know for a _fact_ that Shelby Corcoran paid those costs upfront. So, who do I see about getting Puck a refund, hm? Your accountant? Mom? Your new wife?" she demanded, Russell remained silent. "Grandma?" she threatened.

"Quinn, Quinnie, listen," Russell hurried to jump in. "Look, I don't know what Puckerman's been saying to you, but he _wanted_ to pay, he came to _me_," he insisted, his tone entirely wheedling, ingratiating, he'd do anything to prevent his mother getting to know any of his business.

"Did you?" Quinn asked, making her dad know that Puck was there.

"No, your dad contacted me and told me I had to pay up for getting you pregnant and ruining your life," Puck replied, he didn't see why Russell should lie to drag himself out of a shitty mess.

"Well?" Quinn demanded of her father. "What do you say to that?"

"I...er...I...Quinnie," Russell stuttered, pleadingly.

"When can Puck expect to see his money?" Quinn asked, she wasn't going to take no for an answer. "Even if he'd agreed to pay half, and you can knock four grand off for the legal stuff, but even if he had offered to pay half, he's more than done and you owe him," she told her dad. "Send the check to me, I'll make sure he gets it," she ordered. "And dad, I'd seriously think about repaying the full amount, if you want to be invited to our wedding, that is," she said before she ended the call. "Yeah, chew on that, asshole," she muttered to her now silent phone. Quinn turned the phone off altogether so her dad couldn't call her back and neither could anyone else after he called them in a panic because of her last statement.

"You said you weren't getting married yet," Jenna grumbled at the doorway.

"And we're not, I just said that to annoy my dad," Quinn admitted and then blushed, she saw the admiration in Puck's eyes. "He owes you," she muttered and leaned in close to kiss him. "He stamps on every nerve I've got," she pouted and pulled a face. "Let's get going," she sighed and led the way to Puck's grim looking truck. "Hey, maybe you can upgrade this old beast," she suggested brightly.

Puck nodded and knew that he could afford to do so if he wasn't paying a sizable monthly installment to Russell Fabray. Plus, if Quinn did manage to get him some of that money back, he could use it as a down payment. Cool.

* * *

><p>"Just five more minutes," Puck begged and glanced up at the picture of Jesus above Quinn's bed. "I love this bed," he sighed as he turned over and took Quinn with him, draped her over him. "I love this room, we've had some good times in this room, haven't we?"<p>

Quinn smiled down into Puck's eyes, she thought back to the very first time Puck had entered this room. "Remember that afternoon? That first time?" she asked and rocked against him. "Remember what you told me?"

"You're still not fat," Puck teased, humour shining in his eyes. Yes, he remembered the very first time he had breached this inner sanctum. Before that they'd spent secret hour after secret hour together, hiding away in different places, kissing and making out, but until that time when Sue Sylvester had hurt and humiliated Quinn in front of the rest of the cheerios, they'd always managed to show some sort of restraint, they'd always stopped before they went too far. Until that particular afternoon, until Quinn actually allowed him into her home, into her room, it was then that everything changed.

"Not that, asshole," Quinn grinned back, "the part when you told me that I wasn't just another hook up," she reminded him with a nudge. "There was never going to be anyone else for me," she admitted and stroked her hand gently down his cheek. "We have the time right now, to prove how right we are together," she suggested and bent to touch her lips to his, even as he stretched up to touch his to hers. "Mmmm," she moaned into his mouth. Quinn pushed herself upright so that she was straddling him, she didn't even attempt to stop the automatic reaction, the way her hips rocked, teasing them both through their clothes. "Get naked with me," she whispered. Puck reached up to cup Quinn's breasts, to squeeze them gently, to nurture her nipples to life. He jackknifed up, to bring their lips together again. Without either of them taking much notice, their clothes disappeared, just melted away, they were too far into each other to even notice it happening. Puck teased Quinn with his fingers, she lifted her hips to allow him more room, to give him better leverage, she gasped when he struck her g-spot, she shivered, she trembled. "Now," she hissed and guided his solid length into her waiting channel.

Puck held Quinn a little above his lap, he powered up into her from the bed, he loved to see his own flesh disappearing into hers, it looked awesome, it felt spectacular and it always surprised him how easily she could take him, all of him, like she was built to accept him, designed to please him, and she loved it, loved him. "God," he cried out as sensation began to overwhelm both of them.

"What the hell is going on here?" Russell Fabray shouted from the open doorway, his face a mask of shock and outrage.

"Jesus," Puck barked, and spun over to protect Quinn from prying eyes. His own naked ass could get looked at by millions, he didn't give a shit, but he didn't want anyone looking at Quinn without her permission. "What the hell?" he shouted over his shoulder towards Quinn's dad.

"Dad?" Quinn screeched and hunkered down in the bedclothes. "Oh my God, can it get any more embarrassing?" she hissed to herself. "Get out," she yelled when she realised her dad was still in the doorway.

"No, not until I find out what the hell is going on," Russell shouted back.

"What do you think is going on?" Puck demanded, Jesus, could one man be so stupid? "For fuck's sake, just give us a minute," he muttered under his breath. Anyone with any sense would have turned around and left them in some privacy to get dressed, to make themselves presentable.

"Who the hell do you think you are, Puckerman?" Russell demanded, taking a step closer to the bed.

"What?" Puck cried, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Look, you can see that we are intimately involved here, and I suggest that you consider your daughter's feelings and give us a moment," he advised in a stern voice. Puck stared at Russell Fabray until he backed off and left the bedroom. "Is it possible for any more family members to walk in on us?" he muttered to Quinn. "I think we're left with your sister and my mom," he grumbled. "Everyone else has had a good fucking look."

"When did my mom walk in on us?" Quinn asked, even more mortified than she was a second or so ago.

Puck wondered how much he should tell her. Probably all of it, maybe by the end of the telling she would have calmed down enough so that she didn't rip her dad's head off and he would have calmed down enough that he wouldn't have to snap off his raging boner to be able to fasten his pants. "Well, don't panic, she didn't walk in on us having sex, she walked in on something else. Remember at the hospital after Beth was born and they took her to the nursery?" he asked and gave her bare stomach a gentle stroke, a reminder of what was once inside there. "We were alone in the room, you'd fallen asleep, and I talked, I poured my heart out to you, told you everything, from how I felt about my dad leaving to how much I wanted to keep Beth, to take care of her, take care of you, I told you how much I loved you, " he added softly, with a slightly wistful look in his eye, he really wished that Quinn had known it at the time, he wished he'd been man enough to tell her, but he knew he could tell her now that it had never stopped. "I begged you to reconsider, you were mumbling in your sleep that you wanted to keep her too, that you loved me too and I thought we could do it, I thought we might make it and then your mom spoke," he said quietly. "I didn't even know she was there till she spoke. She said that it didn't matter how much we loved each other, how much we loved Beth, we'd still ruin each other's lives because we were too young to realise what so much commitment meant, she begged me not to tell you all of it when you were awake, she wanted you to have a clean break, to walk away with as much of you intact as possible and she made me realise that, if I truly loved you, I'd let you walk away. So I did," he finished quietly, his voice full of emotion, "sort of."

"Oh, God," Quinn sighed tearfully, "if I'd heard those words, if I'd have known how you really felt, it would have made the difference, I would have felt strong enough to stay with you, to keep Beth. That was the only thing that stopped me," she admitted, "not knowing if you would stand by me. I wish I'd known," she moaned. "Let's go see my dad, get this over with," she sighed and steeled herself for the disapproval that was bound to come from her perpetually angry parent.

* * *

><p>"Dad," Quinn said as she and Puck walked into the kitchen to join Russell Fabray. "What brings you here?" she asked politely, totally ignoring the giant elephant in the room, she was damned if she was going to mention Puck and the money, she would wait and see if her dad did.<p>

"Quinnie," Russell said warily and nodded towards Puck. "Puckerman," he said in frosty greeting, his tone was almost polite. Almost, but not quite.

"Hey," Puck replied, he had no intention of making this easy.

"One of the neighbours called to say that your mom is out of town and that she could see a strange truck parked in the driveway," Russell explained why he was in his former home, his ex-wife's home.

"Fine, I accept that," Quinn replied, and nodded to her dad for him to continue. Russell remained silent, he really wasn't sure what he should be saying. "And the next thing you're going to do is apologise?" she encouraged questioningly.

Russell looked as though he was struggling. Puck took pity on him. "Quinn, leave the guy alone. Truth is, I'd be pretty pissed if some dick went and got Beth pregnant, so I can relate, alright, I get it," he explained.

"But he lied to me," Quinn retorted. "He lied to me for years, he should have told me that he was making you pay and, forget everything else, he extorted money from you for a bill that had already been paid by someone else," she exclaimed. "Plus, I bet you anything that his medical insurance covered me during the pregnancy and the birth plus the after-care," she assured Puck and then looked at her dad and saw him looking away, uncomfortable under Quinn's searching stare. "Do you have anything to say about that?" she demanded of her dad.

"Fine, so everything but the deductible was covered," Russell admitted in a growl. "I'll write a check for you tomorrow," he informed Puck quite coldly. "I wasn't going to keep it," he exclaimed, "I was going to donate it to charity once he'd finished paying," he told them both. Neither Quinn nor Puck fully believed that little bit of nonsense, Russell had never been a charitable person, ever.

* * *

><p>"Can you believe my dad?" Quinn sighed as they drove to Puck's house after stopping for ice cream. "And can you believe he didn't say anything about catching us in the act?" she giggled. "I don't know, I think it's fate or something, I think it probably means that the next time we're both here in Lima, we check into a hotel, then we can be as loud and rambunctious as we want and we aren't going to embarrass our family."<p>

"Good plan," Puck grinned as he pulled up outside his house. "So are we cool with everything?" he asked, he wasn't sure if she was still slightly pissed that he hadn't been man enough to stand up to their parents when they were sixteen.

"We're cool," Quinn murmured against his lips. "Even with my mom and my dad," she sighed, she saw their interference as the biggest obstacle that they'd faced, even though she hadn't known about it at the time. "The whole truth?" Quinn asked Puck suddenly, Puck nodded. "I thought I was dreaming at the time, that my subconscious was telling me what I wanted to hear, but I heard you, deep down somewhere, I heard you," she told Puck. "I heard you tell me about summer days in a meadow filled with buttercups," she said with more uncertainty than she actually felt, she was sure he'd said those words to her. "About how we would take Beth on vacation to your grandparents log cabin near Lake something or other," she said.

"Lake Leelanau," Puck interjected, reminding Quinn of the name.

"That's in Michigan, right?" Quinn asked, just out of curiosity, Puck nodded. "Anyway, I think I remember you talking about that, and about getting a job, finding us a house, you even talked about finding a house that had been foreclosed on so that we could buy it cheaper," she reminded him, Puck blushed, his grandiose ideas just sounded juvenile to him now.

"So, one day we will find a house, we will buy something, put down roots," Puck assured Quinn, "and then we'll have a family, we'll never forget Beth, but we will have more children, sometime in the future." Quinn nodded happily, her eyes were shining with tears, but she was happy. Puck walked around the truck and opened the door to allow Quinn to get out, he stood in her way so that she had no option but to slide down his body. "Mmmm," Puck sighed as her feet finally found the floor. "Ready for that ice cream?" he asked with a nod towards the slightly softened dairy dessert. "Jenna will probably be on pins waiting for this," he muttered as he handed the package to Quinn in order to be able to lift her bag from the back of the truck.

"What did you bring me?" Jenna demanded, the second they were in the house. Puck sighed and rolled his eyes at the real fox fur stole that was wrapped around his sister's shoulders, complete with head, feet and bushy tail.

"Black cherry chocolate chip," Puck replied, handing over the pint carton to his now bouncing sister, "butter pecan," he added, passing another carton to his mother, "and vanilla," he said with a roll of his eyes, passing the third carton to Quinn. "How, when there's a hundred different flavours, can you go for vanilla?" he asked, completely baffled.

"You did," Quinn replied with a cheeky wink.

"Yeah," Puck snickered softly, realising straight away what she meant. Quinn meant that out of all the flavours of girls that Puck had dated, tested and tasted over the years, his favourite choice had been her, and they didn't come any more vanilla than Quinn Fabray. "Touche," he muttered and passed her a spoon.

* * *

><p>"Good night," Lydia called as she went to her room around eleven.<p>

"Night, mom," Puck replied.

"Night, Lydia," Quinn said at the same time.

Puck waited a second or so. "Come here," he muttered and pulled Quinn across his lap. "I was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to go to bed," he grinned. "And when that movie came on, I could have cried, especially with all the cock blocking that's been going on all day," he laughed into Quinn's throat just before he pressed his lips to her pulsing vein. "Jesus, how is that movie not R rated?" he asked. Puck wondered how he had managed to sit through watching the movie with both Quinn and his mom, watching really quite explicit sex scenes and not have a raging boner. Thinking about it now, thinking about maybe watching that same movie with Quinn in a theater, like actually sitting there with a bunch of strangers and maybe getting to touch Quinn, maybe getting her to touch him, it nearly blew Puck's mind, it certainly had an effect in his pants. "Let's go to bed," he sighed with a hint of desperation and anticipation in his voice and on his face. Quinn didn't reply, she stood and held her hand out to him, thankful that they had already locked up and cleaned up the kitchen, all that was left was to reach his bedroom and fall into each other's arms.

* * *

><p>Quinn bumped into Rachel in the girls' bathroom first thing the next morning. "Hi," Rachel said with a grin, her eyes caught Quinn's in the mirror. "You look especially tired," she smirked and then continued to reapply her lipstick. Quinn didn't say a word, she blushed a little, she tried to hide her smile, but she didn't say anything. "You know, I remember being here, in this very same bathroom right before we graduated, and telling you that you and Puck belonged together and you totally denied it, you said it was ancient history," she reminded Quinn.<p>

Again Quinn stayed silent, remembering the day herself, she remembered her dress and her hat, she'd rather liked that hat, she also remembered later that day when she had helped to tutor Puck in her bedroom, and what had happened after that tutor session. "So?" she said, once she'd returned from her speedy trip down memory lane.

"So there was something in the way that you looked at each other yesterday," Rachel stated then turned to look directly at Quinn. Quinn chewed her lips nervously but still didn't say a word. "Damn, this is like getting Kurt to make a decision about what shirt to wear," she grumbled. "Tell me honestly," she demanded, staring Quinn in the eye, "you and Noah were an item all through high school, weren't you?" she asked.

"The truth?" Quinn asked with a gulp, she could feel her pulse beating like mad. "Ok, so, we did have a relationship throughout our time here at McKinley," she admitted and felt relieved and refreshed for telling Rachel about it, "it started before Finn and I started going out, we never actually defined what we were, we were never boyfriend, girlfriend," she explained, "but there was always something between us."

"Even when you were dating Finn? When you were dating Sam?" Rachel asked, slightly scandalised.

"Yes," Quinn whispered.

"Did Finn ever find out?" Rachel asked, her eyes were wide open, she was quite shocked at Quinn's revelations.

"Yes," Quinn replied. "When Puck and Finn did the whole college experience thing," she said with an indulgent grin and a shake of her head, "they talked a lot, Finn called me to tell me that he didn't blame us, he didn't hold a grudge against us, I wish he'd told Puck that himself, but he didn't, anyway, we talked for a while, he told me that he understood, that he forgave us, for everything, for dragging him into the Beth situation, for kind of disrupting his life, really," she explained, "and he told me that Puck didn't blame me for cheating on him," she added quietly then looked up, her eyes locked with Rachel's. "Puck has never said anything about that, everyone assumed that I'd cheated on Finn with Puck but I didn't, it was the other way around, Puck was always my secret, my guilty pleasure," she told Rachel, "he's my soul mate," she said firmly and felt pleasure fizzing up inside her, she felt so free, "and I'm his, just like you were Finn's," she sighed happily.

"I know," Rachel answered with a sad sort of smile, "I know that I was his, he was mine too."

"You know Rachel, you can't let your past define you so totally," Quinn advised firmly, "I know that you will always love Finn, we all will, but you have to let him go," she said softly.

"What if I can't?" Rachel whispered tearfully.

"That's where we all come in, your friends," Quinn said and took a step forwards, took both of Rachel's hands in hers. "We're all here for you," she reminded the petite girl, "and you know that Finn wouldn't want you to lock yourself away, he would want you to live your life," she encouraged. "Please, Rachel, just listen to me," she urged. "For the last two years without Puck, I have just been existing, treading water, trying to get on with my life, but I couldn't, not until we made the decision to start again, properly," she said. "And it will happen for you, you just have to be open to it, don't hold Finn up in front of you like a shield," she accused her friend.

"I don't..." Rachel tried to argue but stopped in the face of Quinn's skeptical gaze. "Fine, so I use Finn to push people away," she admitted.

"And I know for a fact that your leading man is interested in making you his leading lady for real," Quinn stated, she'd been given that information from Santana and Kurt, they both thought the guy was handsome and actually, quite perfect for Rachel, if only she'd let him be.

"Are you girls ok in here?" Puck asked when he pushed the door open. He glanced around to check the coast was clear. "S'up?" he asked.

"Nothing," Quinn answered with a smile as Puck wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "We were just talking," she said with a smile at Rachel, Rachel smiled back. They all left a few moments later to convene in the choir room.

* * *

><p>During their emotional version of Don't Stop, Puck managed to get Quinn by his side, danced with her, he looked into her eyes, they both remembered the last time they'd performed that song and what had happened immediately afterwards.<p>

Quinn felt a shiver of déjà vu strike her when they reached the area just in front of the dressing room when they came off stage. "Quinnie," Judy Fabray called, her voice slightly breathless, a little bit nervous.

"Mom, you're home," Quinn said in surprise and leaned over to kiss her mom's cheek. "Did you have a good time?" she asked.

"Yes," Judy replied, "yes it was wonderful, so relaxing. Right up until your dad called me," she added and glanced at Puck.

"I think we can guess why he called you," Puck said and reached out to shake Judy's hand, Judy responded with a happy look on her face.

"He said something about talking to Father Harris," Judy answered with a hint of confusion marring her features. She looked intently at her daughter, at Puck. "Now, I know that you were teasing your dad when you told him you were getting married," she informed Quinn, "and the reason I know this is because last week you were dating someone else," she added and then looked back at Puck. "This week, it seems that you are dating the right man for you," she announced, shocking both Puck and Quinn equally. "Let's hope that this time it's for good."

"Didn't expect to hear _that_," Puck murmured to Quinn, his eyes still firmly on Judy, watching to see if she was mocking them.

"Me either," Quinn whispered back, she was staring at her mother too, wondering who or what had messed with her mom's mind.

"Truth?" Judy asked with her eyebrows hiked up just like Quinn did. Puck and Quinn nodded. "Ok, so, I knew about you two even before you found out that you were pregnant," she announced and again, shocked the life out of Puck and Quinn. "I used to see you together when I was picking you up from cheer practice and it always looked like it was a struggle to be the one to leave, and you always consciously made no move to touch each other, except for the fingertip thing, you always brushed your fingertips together, you used to do it all the time, I have no idea how poor Finn never noticed," she said, more to herself than to anyone else. "Sorry, distracted, tired," she said in a disjointed sort of way. "Can we go somewhere?" she asked and glanced around to see if anyone else was near them.

"We can go to the auditorium," Puck suggested and hooked his thumb in the direction that they'd come from just a few moments before. Puck led the way and then sat, looking to his side across Quinn with Judy sat at Quinn's other side. "Is this better?" he asked before Judy resumed her tale.

"Much, thanks," Judy replied and placed her purse down by her daintily crossed feet. "So," she continued, "as I was saying, I used to notice the little brush of fingertips, like you really wanted to hold hands or something, I noticed the glances and stuff like that and when that dress didn't fit you, I knew straight away what was wrong and you were right, I did brush it aside because I didn't want to upset your father, I knew he would have gone ballistic, like he did," she explained and sighed once again at the dictatorial behaviour of her ex-husband. "I've still never quite understood how Finn could possibly have been fooled into thinking that he'd actually gotten you pregnant without actually...well, you know," she muttered the last few words with a bright flush on her face.

"He was incredibly naïve," Quinn replied with a soft smile as she remembered Finn's confusion.

"Anyway, I remember coming home from some golf presentation thing with your dad, I remember walking into the house and I knew something felt different, like I could smell it in the air or something," Judy told them. "I went to your room, you were there, tucked up in bed, pretending to be asleep, your room was unnaturally still, it was as though it was frozen, as though the instant my hand had touched the door handle, everything in the room had held its breath," she said, and smiled herself at how fanciful it sounded. "Including you," she added with a slightly amused look at Puck. "I don't mean I saw you, but I know you were there, I felt that you were there," she added.

"I was under the bed," Puck confirmed with a grin at Quinn. "And yeah, that was it, that was the day," he said softly. "The day our lives changed forever."

"Changed for the better," Quinn interjected and placed her hand on Puck's thigh. "I know that you know all about us, Lydia told us," she said to her mom, "and this now, this between us is right, everything just feels right, I feel like I've come alive again and we do intend to get married at some time in the future, but not just yet, we'll wait a few years," she explained in a happy, breathless voice. "Although I'm not letting dad off the hook just yet, do you know what he did?" she demanded of her mother.

"Narrow it down," Judy murmured the suggestion with a touch of sarcasm. "I mean, this is your father we're talking about here, it could be anything."

"He only went and billed Puck for everything," Quinn exclaimed, outraged once again, "like, for every doctor appointment, every ultrasound, the birth, everything, you know, he even had the cheek to bill Puck for his lawyer's costs for the adoption, that Shelby Corcoran already paid, I mean, how low can one man go?"

"That man," Judy growled, her anger at Russell rose to new levels. "And you paid it?" she demanded of Puck.

Puck shrugged uncomfortably. "Of course he did, he's an honourable person," Quinn retorted, "he's still paying it, actually," she added and whipped the letter - that Puck didn't even know she'd confiscated - out of her purse to show to her mom.

"Oh, that man," Judy exclaimed as she read the letter. "Unbelievable. He is unbelievable," she cried. "Well I can tell you this, you are getting every cent of this back," she declared.

"Judy, look, it's fine, I managed," Puck said, he hoped that he could calm both of them down. "Don't you think it was my responsibility to pay for at least some of this?" he asked.

"No," Judy and Quinn cried out together.

"Well I do," Puck said quietly and took Quinn's hand again. "I'm cool with paying this, I'm used to paying this, it's going to be a bonus in a few months when it's all finished, sure, but I still think it was my right to have paid this and I'm grateful that your dad could front it up and let me pay it off bit by bit," he told them. A noise off to their left side had all three of them looking round.

"That music teacher sent me here," Russell Fabray said as he approached them. "Judy, Quinn," he said and leaned in to kiss their cheeks. "Puckerman," he almost, but not quite, grunted.

"Russell, I invited you here to make amends with our daughter," Judy announced. "That was before I knew about this, though," she hissed and thrust the letter in Russell's direction. "You seriously need to address this," she advised.

"I will," Russell sighed but gave a narrow-eyed glare in Puck's direction.

"So, now we're all here," Puck began and gave Quinn's hand a gentle squeeze, "it's time to tell you the truth," he said with a smile. "Relax," he assured Russell, "we don't plan to get married any time soon," he grinned. "It is something that will happen in the future, in maybe a couple of years, once Quinn is done with Yale, but certainly not before then," he promised. "Surely that will give you time to get used to me being a part of your family," he teased with a half-smile. "All you need to know is that I love your daughter, I always have done and I always will do, with every part of my heart and soul, I'm hers for as long as she wants me," he declared, staring Quinn in the eye, she smiled happily at him. "And I really do want to marry you, someday, way off in the future," he whispered and dipped his head to kiss her.

"Unless we get carried away again and something happens," Quinn interrupted just before their lips connected and slipped Puck a covert wink. They both knew that this was incredibly unlikely, the contraceptive implant was almost 100% effective and neither Quinn nor Puck had any intention of changing that method of contraception for the foreseeable future. "I mean, if we do get pregnant again, I'd like to be married before the ba...Jeez, dad, don't have a heart attack," Quinn screeched, almost apoplectic with laughter. "Your face, it was a picture," she giggled. "Dad, we really are not intending to get married until well after I have finished college, until Puck has started to work his way up the ranks, until we're settled, until we feel ready, alright?"

"Fine," Russell sighed, he knew that it was going to happen, he knew from finding them together yesterday that they were intimate with each other. "You'll take care of her, right?" he demanded of Puck.

Puck's face lit with a slow smile. "Always," he vowed, "always and forever."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.**

**A/N: The truth is out there...or in there, as the case may be...**

"Hey, baby," Puck murmured throatily the second that Quinn answered the phone. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Quinn sighed, she was so pleased to hear his voice, it had been way too long since he'd been able to call. "How long now till you're home?" she asked desperately, she so needed to see him, to feel him, she wanted to just absorb him.

"Soon, I'll be home soon," Puck replied, Quinn could hear the grin in his voice and pressed the phone even closer to her ear as if that would make him nearer to her. "Soon," he repeated softly.

"I can't wait to see you," Quinn managed to say just before her voice broke, the tear that rolled down her face landed with a splat on her bare thigh, she tugged Puck's shirt down even more and hugged into it, she always wore his shirts to bed when he was out of the country, she just needed to, needed to have that closeness. "I miss you," she whispered, her voice wouldn't go any louder, she thought it might crack if she tried.

"Baby, I miss you too, but I'll be home soon," Puck reminded her. "Are you alone?" he asked, the husky timbre to his voice brought an awakening to Quinn's body, it came alive, she knew what he wanted.

"No," Quinn lied, "I'm in the library," she told him as she glanced around her lonely room.

"Are there lots of people around?" Puck asked, there was a definite hint of naughtiness in his tone.

"Of course," Quinn replied lightly, "finals are coming up, people are studying like mad," she reminded him.

"What colour panties are you wearing?" Puck groaned the question at her.

Quinn glanced down to the plain, white cotton panties that she'd slipped on after her shower. "Black lace ones," she replied. "The ones that glitter, you know those ones that you took off me in that bar in New York?" she said, her voice became very husky.

"Ohhhh," Puck groaned. "Slip your hand into them, baby," he instructed, "touch yourself, under the table, please, touch yourself," he begged, "please, let me hear you," he pleaded. "Oh, God," he sighed as she breathed suggestively into her phone, the familiar sounds she made drove Puck wild.

"I'm so wet," Quinn moaned quietly, although her hand was actually nowhere near her panties, but they'd played this game so many times across the miles and she was an extremely good actress when she wanted to be. Quinn gave Puck the verbal show that he wanted, the words that he needed, she hoped to God he was alone too, because she could hear from the roughness of his breathing, the catch in his voice now and again, how tight his voice became too, she knew he was jacking off to her play acting. "Oh, God, I'm coming," she shouted, she'd forgotten she was supposed to be in the library.

"Ohhhh," Puck groaned, and then paused a few seconds. "You are such a liar," he laughed softly.

"What do you mean?" Quinn demanded, hurt by the accusation.

"I mean that you aren't anywhere near the library," Puck answered with a snicker of laughter. "Open the door," he suggested.

Quinn almost spun off the flimsy office chair that she was balanced on in the corner of her room when she heard the knock. "Oh my God," she cried into her phone even though she launched herself at Puck, who was actually stood right outside her dorm room. "You're here, you're here, you're here," she sobbed over and over into his chest, into his rather dusty desert fatigues.

"I told you I'd see you soon," Puck teased hoarsely, his voice held more than a hint of strain. He allowed Quinn to slide down his front and once her feet touched the floor he wrapped his arms around her so tightly that she couldn't breathe. And Quinn couldn't have cared less if she never took another breath again in her life, she seriously didn't care, she had Puck back in her arms, all limbs intact, he was here and if she had her way, he would never leave her again. Ever.

"How long are you here for?" Quinn eventually managed to ask as Puck guided her backwards into her room and slammed the door shut on any possible prying eyes.

"Here as in in the US?" Puck asked, Quinn nodded. "Till the next deployment, whenever that is," he replied and then swooped to claim Quinn's lips in a steamy, sultry, raunchy, kiss that went on and on and on. "White freakin' cotton," he grumbled as he tugged the shirt over Quinn's head and saw the remaining garment on her body. "You should burn these," he murmured against her lips as he brushed his fingers over the front of her panties. "They're a crime against humanity," he claimed, "they cover way too much of your ass," he grumbled and pushed them off her hips, Quinn jiggled her legs a little to encourage the panties to drop.

"Candy man," Quinn whispered as her panties hit the floor. "Doesn't matter," she groaned when Puck looked puzzled, she was far too needy of his touch to spend precious time talking about Christina Aguilera songs. Puck picked her up, his hands on her waist, he stood her on her bed and looked up through the valley that her boobs created, looked up into her shining, excited eyes. "You have far too many clothes on, Puckerman," she said with a giggle. Puck took a step back and began to strip off. "Mmmm," Quinn sighed, she couldn't help but touch herself a little as she watched his uniform fall to the floor, as the tanned parts of him came into view. "Come here," she whispered as she knelt down, once he'd unbuckled his pants.

"Where? Right here?" Puck asked with a grin as he stepped up to the edge of the bed.

"Mmhmmm," Quinn nodded, her face was in line with his taut, muscled, abdomen. "Right, here," she murmured as she slipped one hand into the front of his pants, the other hand was planted on the mattress to balance her. Puck hissed through his teeth and trembled slightly when Quinn dragged his hot, rigid, straining, erection out of his pants, her fist was slowly stroking the full length of him. Quinn groaned in anticipation just a split second before her tongue touched the slippery end of his dick. Puck hauled a breath deep into his lungs and kept it there, he wasn't even sure he could remember how to breathe any more, even if he would ever need to again, the only thing he was sure of was this moment, now, right now, and Quinn's lips wrapped around the end of his dick, her tongue stroking him and her hand jacking him. Puck really didn't need to know any more than that. He didn't even know how the rest of his clothes disappeared, he was vaguely aware that he must have disrobed, but for the life of him, he couldn't actually remember doing it.

Puck's hand, almost without conscious thought from him, slid into Quinn's hair, his fingers spread out at the back of her head, he wasn't entirely sure if he was guiding Quinn's motion, if he was assisting her in any way or if he was just holding on for the ride. "Oh, God," he sighed, his face was screwed up tight, full of emotion, passion, need, desire. Puck's other hand slipped into Quinn's hair, his hips rocked, he pressed deeper, as deep as he knew she could stand it. Puck glanced down when he heard her gag a bit, he pulled back to give her room to breathe. Quinn looked up at him, her eyes were full of love for him, full of lust for him, slowly they drifted shut as she concentrated on his dick in her mouth. "Fuck, Quinn, I can't take too much of this," Puck groaned, "I've been dreaming about this for weeks, I can't, I need...oh," he moaned as her teeth grazed him slightly as he pulled out. "Mmmm," he sighed as their lips connected.

Neither Puck nor Quinn could have said who moved first, neither of them cared, it was like an orchestrated ballet, a choreographed movement, they just flowed. Without speaking, without making a recognisable sound, somehow they were laid together, hands touching, cradling each other, legs entwined, Puck's dick seated wholely, firmly, inside Quinn, and she did not want to release him, not for a long, long time. "Oh God that feels so good," Quinn whispered into Puck's throat, her arms were wrapped around him, his were around her.

"Oh, baby, you feel amazing," Puck groaned, his slow nudging movements were beginning to build in tempo, in depth, his hips rolling smoothly to bring them both the ultimate pleasure. "Ahhh," he sighed as he twisted a little to change the angle of his penetration. Quinn gulped, her body roiled with the new sensation, she loved it. "Shit, do that again," Puck moaned when Quinn clenched her internal muscles on his straining dick. "God, I love it when you do that. Again," he groaned and thrust a little harder into her.

Puck changed angle again, he lifted one of Quinn's legs up against his chest, his knees nudged her ass. "Beautiful," he whispered as he looked down, watched his dick piston in and out of her. "Like that?" he asked as he roughly rubbed her clit. Quinn bit her lip and nodded, her breathless body tensed up as a wave of pleasure surged through her. "Fu-uck," he groaned and altered his angle just slightly again. "Baby, you are so hot and wet," he informed her then leaned down to kiss her again. "Come for me," he whispered.

"Not yet," Quinn begged, she didn't want this to be over too soon, she wanted this to last and last and last. Quinn thrust up to dislodge Puck.

"Fiesty," Puck murmured appreciatively and allowed Quinn to roll him onto his back. "Gorgeous," he growled and jack-knifed up to suckle on her nipples once she had settled herself astride him. "Oh, yes, baby," he groaned and helped Quinn to establish a fast-paced rocking rhythm.

Puck's hands gripped her hips, his thumbs dug into the crease at the top of her thighs. He saw an opportunity to make her lose it. Puck slid his thumbs together, they met at her clit, Quinn jerked back when they brushed over the most sensitive part of her flesh, almost hard enough to dislodge herself.

Quinn leaned back and slid one hand to Puck's balls. Even as he pumped up into her, she teased and stroked them, scratched them lightly with her fingernails, sought out the sensitive strip of skin just below them. "Jesus," Puck shouted and thrust up hard, his hips stayed pushed up high, his butt cheeks clenched together, his thighs pressed together halting Quinn's inquisitive fingers. "Fuck," he growled and pushed forwards, rolling Quinn onto her back, he surged over the top of her and thrust hard, his hips pumped like the piston in a car engine, fast, fast, fast. Neither needed nor wanted to stop, neither needed nor wanted this to end but they knew it must. "I'm coming," Puck hissed, his face was screwed up, his eyes closed tight.

"Me...t...oo," Quinn managed to say, but only just. "Argh," they both grunted, as their bodies finally gave in to the pleasures of the flesh. "That was awesome," she murmured as they settled down to sleep, to rest, as they made themselves comfortable.

"Baby, every time is awesome with you," Puck replied quietly, his lips pressed into her blonde hair. "So did you pick a date?" he asked, he trailed his fingers lightly up and down her arm. "We always said we'd get married as soon as you finish college and you're just about done, so...?" he fished.

"I thought we could maybe go for an August wedding," Quinn replied with a gentle, dreamy smile on her lips. "Rachel has a couple of weeks off in August," she mentioned, she knew that because she'd spoken to Rachel just two days ago and the brunette had grumbled that her leading man was scheduled for surgery then and the producers and the director had decided that they would do a two week run of Funny Girl with both the male and female understudies, to give them both a chance to shine. "It gives us a chance to make plans too," she added and leaned up to press her lips to Puck's face, just near his mouth.

"Sounds cool," Puck agreed. "And did you do what we decided, too?" he asked and shifted a little to turn to her slightly.

"I did," Quinn murmured shyly and straightened the sheet that was covering them rather than meet his eyes.

"Awesome," Puck breathed and moved over her to kiss her deeply. They managed round two and round three before they had to break for something to eat.

* * *

><p>"Mom, hey," Puck said into his phone. "Yep, back on home soil," he informed her, nodding even though she couldn't see him. "New Haven," he admitted and winked at Quinn. "No, I knew you wouldn't expect anything different. Listen, mom, I have something I need to tell you," he put in before his mother could go off on a tangent and take the conversation in a different direction. "A couple of things, actually," he corrected himself and pulled Quinn down onto his lap as she passed by. "First is, I got myself a nice little promotion," he said with both pride and pleasure, "you are now talking to Noah Puckerman, Airman First Class," he informed both his mother and Quinn simultaneously.<p>

"Oh, congratulations," Quinn and Lydia both squealed together, Quinn hugged Puck's head tight into her chest, because she was perched on his knee, naturally, and it was the only way to hug him, Puck grinned and pressed a kiss onto her pouting nipple.

"So what else do you need to tell me," Lydia asked, her voice rather echoey from the iphone on the table.

"Crap, I forgot you were still there," Puck mumbled and swiftly covered Quinn's nipple with her shirt, he was blushing even though his mom couldn't see them. "Ok, so, second is, drum roll please," he drew it out, "we have decided on a date," he announced and then proceeded to kiss Quinn, despite his mom being on the other end of the line, because well, it would be her wedding too. "We're thinking August 20th because that's after Tisha B'Av and even though we aren't going to go the whole church or synagogue route, I don't want to piss Nana Beth off," he explained.

"Yeah, can you imagine?" Lydia replied with a hushed laugh. "She'd refuse to go, you know that, right?" she added.

"Yep, that's why we decided to do it after that, Quinn's cool with whatever," Puck said and smiled happily at Quinn again. "Should I?" he mouthed silently, Quinn nodded. "And there is one other thing," he added, breaking into Lydia's waffling monologue about dresses and stuff, Puck thought she might have been talking to Quinn about that.

"What's that, sweetie?" Lydia asked, she sounded so happy.

"Quinn had her implant removed so we're planning to make you a grandma some time in the next year or so," Puck announced in a rush. Both Puck and Quinn ducked, hugged together to hide from Lydia's squeal of delight. She seemed genuinely pleased with the news.

"Did you tell your mom yet, Quinn?" Lydia asked.

"Nope, that's our next call," Quinn replied and then pulled a face at Puck.

"Well, I'll let you go and do that but I have to tell you, I am so pleased for you guys," Lydia cried, "and I can't wait to be a nana."

* * *

><p>"Ready for this?" Quinn asked, her eyes on Puck's eyes, his hand was on her ass, stroking and offering comfort from the possible recrimination when they told Judy their final piece of news.<p>

"Go for it," Puck advised and pressed another cheeky kiss to her nipple for good luck.

"Mom, hi," Quinn said with determined cheer as soon as Judy answered. "Yes, Puck is home, he's here with me right now," she replied to Judy's question and then put the phone on speaker and laid it on the table. "Ok, so, mom, we decided on a wedding date," Quinn informed Judy then grinned at Puck, she had no idea why she felt so nervous, she knew her mom was totally behind them, supportive of the in every way, it was her dad who was the stumbling block.

"So when is it?" Judy asked, the excitement was evident in her voice.

"August 20th," Quinn replied.

"Next year?" Judy asked, she still sounded so pleased.

"Erm, not exactly," Quinn replied, her voice trembled.

"This year?" Judy screeched, now she didn't sound quite so supportive.

"Yep," Puck answered for Quinn, she seemed to have lost a little of her excitement.

"How am I supposed to put together a wedding in just..nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, four...sixteen, _sixteen weeks_?" Judy demanded, she had obviously just counted the weeks on her calendar. "Sixteen weeks, oh my Lord, is there something you have to tell me?" she asked, she sounded hurt. "Although how can that be since Noah's been out of the country?" she asked, her muttered question wasn't really aimed at either Puck or Quinn.

"Mom, mom, just, mom, just listen, please," Quinn begged and managed to snag Judy's attention.

"I'm listening," Judy said quietly.

"Ok, so, we decided that I would get the implant removed, which I did, last month," Quinn explained slowly, her eyes locked with Puck's for the support that she knew was there. "Puck only got home yesterday so, no, even though our friends call us 'Quick', even we're not that fast," she quipped, "we are not pregnant yet but we are intending it to happen sooner rather than later, just so you know," she said and then bit her lip. "And we can put our own wedding together, we don't need all the bells and whistles, we don't want all the fuss that Frannie had, we just want plain and simple, with just you guys, our family and our friends with us, we don't want St Marks, we're not doing it in temple either, we want it to be in your back yard, or anywhere really, it doesn't matter, all that matters is that you support us because really, in the end, that's all that counts anyway," she said with such intense passion that even Puck had a tear in his eye.

"Oh, sweetie," Judy sighed, she sounded so much happier, she got it, she understood, it wasn't the trappings that would make this marriage special, it was the love that the young couple had between them, had always had. "Ok, so, should I ship grandma Helena's dress to you so that you can get it altered to fit? You always said you wanted to wear grandma Helena's dress," she reminded Quinn.

"Actually, mom, I think I want to choose something a little more contemporary," Quinn replied thoughtfully. There was a dress she'd seen on the internet - not that she'd trawled all of the sites or anything...much - but it was beautiful in a boho type of way that would suit a garden wedding perfectly. "Wish me luck," she muttered.

"Why would you need luck?" Judy asked, confused at the sudden change from positiveness to nervousness.

"I'm going to call dad now, tell him the news," Quinn answered and then pulled a face at Puck, he grinned and patted her ass comfortingly.

"Hey, he likes me now," Puck reminded Quinn with a huge grin and a wink.

"No, he liked you when you were out of the country," Quinn corrected Puck, Judy giggled in the background. "He was rather hoping that you would stay there in the Middle East," she added and then planted a loud smacking kiss on his pouting lips. "I'm glad you came home though," she assured him.

"I am too," Judy put in. "Call your dad, would you like me to call Frannie or do you want to tell her yourself?"

"I'll call her," Quinn decided. "She's going to be pissed, she'll probably be the size of a house by the end of August," she added with a slightly malicious grin to Puck. "Serves her right for getting carried away at Christmas," she whispered.

"I heard that," Judy called. "Let's hope that when your turn comes, your sister is a little more charitable towards you," she said, making Quinn feel as though she'd been reprimanded.

"Frannie was the one who said she wasn't intending to have any more children," Quinn cried in her own defense. "She was the one who said that three was more than enough," she reminded her mom.

"Maybe this one will be a girl," Judy said hopefully. "She won't let her OB tell her what the baby is, Jordan said if it's another boy he's going to live at work and leave Frannie to get on with it," she added, Judy wasn't sure if her son-in-law was joking or not. If she had to live with her three hellion grandsons, she would probably follow her son-in-law.

"Bye, mom," Quinn said, her smile could be heard in her voice.

"Bye, sweetie, bye Noah," Judy replied before she disconnected the call. Quinn had no doubt that her mom would be straight on the phone to Lydia, between them they'd make plans to suit themselves.

"Ok, do you want to be here when I make this call?" Quinn asked, she'd spun around so that she faced Puck. "Oh, do that again," she hissed when the ridge of his arousal nudged her in just the right place. Puck rolled his hips again, Quinn shivered. "Dad, hello, it's me, Quinn," she said, even as Puck slid his fingers into the front of her panties. Quinn stared Puck in the eye and almost dared him to continue. "We wanted you to be one of the first to know," she said with a slight tremble to her voice, she shifted slightly to allow Puck better access.

"Know what, honey?" Russell Fabray replied, he sounded quite distracted, he was probably working, putting some deal together that would leave him richer and happier.

"We've set a date," Quinn answered quickly. "For the wedding," she explained when she realised that her dad might not know what she was talking about. "August 20th," she informed him, "but don't worry if you've already made plans for golf or something, I don't need you to give me away," she advised, already mentally making excuses for her dad's non appearance. As much as Russell had tried to make amends, especially after the whole repayment thing, he still couldn't really accept that his daughter's choice of life partner was the guy who had ruined her life at the age of fifteen.

"Quinn, darling, of course we'll be there," Russell promised for himself and his wife. "And anything you want, whatever you want, it's yours," he told her, then almost immediately regretted it, what if they were going to do it in the temple? What would his mother say?

"We're thinking about having the ceremony in the back yard at Dudley Road," Quinn announced, more than mildly surprised at her dad's response. "Oh," she gasped when Puck's fingers dug a little deeper and hit her g-spot. Quinn put the phone away from her mouth and slammed a kiss on him, she grasped him round the neck one-handed and pressed her hips into him, rode him good. "Fuck me," she sighed into Puck's ear, although it was meant as a statement and not an invitation. Puck took it as an invitation.

"I'm going to, right now," Puck whispered back almost silently and released his erection from his pants. He grinned as he entered her, watched with amusement as she bit her lip and tried to keep her voice steady as she resumed her conversation with her father.

"So, dad, what do you think of that idea?" Quinn asked Russell, Puck grinned at the slight wobble of her voice and thrust even harder into her.

"Tell him," Puck whispered, he rather hoped that Russell would hear him and ask, but he didn't. Quinn shook her head, it would be time enough to tell her dad once she was actually pregnant. "Spoilsport," he muttered into her cleavage.

"I'm not surprised," Russell said, trying his very best to sound jovial. "I knew this day would come," he added and then sighed. "But I rather hoped that you would have finished college first," he added.

"Dad, finals are next week," Quinn said, and then rolled with the force of Puck's thrusts. "I'll be back in Lima by the end of May, Puck came home yesterday, so he'll be back at Wright-Patterson, we'll be looking at housing there, probably off-base, I'll be looking for a teaching job in the vicinity," she explained and wondered how the hell she was managing to carry on a lucid conversation when her body was almost at the point of imploding. Puck took a second and tweaked both of her nipples, Quinn just barely held in the gasp. Puck grinned wickedly and then yanked her shirt down to bare her breasts totally. "I think it's a really great choice for us," Quinn told her dad, in reply to a question that Puck didn't hear. "Teaching is something that I'll be able to do wherever we go, wherever Puck gets stationed," she added. "Dad, I've got to go, someone is at the door," she lied and simoultaneously pressed the button to disconnect the call. "Jesus," she cried and hugged tighter around Puck's neck. "I love it when you do that," she moaned.

"What? When I fuck you while you're talking to daddy-dearest?" Puck asked and surged up out of the chair, he leaned over and laid Quinn across the small breakfast table. "Oh, baby," he groaned and thrust harder and harder into her.

"I'm going to come, I'm going to come," Quinn cried, her eyes were shut tight, her legs were up, wrapped around Puck's waist, his lips were buried in her throat and she had no doubt at all she would have a hickie there by lunchtime. "God, argh," she shouted as the ripples of completion slammed through her, her body jerked with the power of it.

"Oh-h-h-h-h," Puck breathed, he couldn't manage anything more, he felt as though his entire body had shattered with the force of his ejaculation inside Quinn. "If you don't end up pregnant after this weekend, I think I'll need to get my sperm count checked," he muttered against her skin, laughter not far away for either of them.

"Erm, Quinn, darling," Russell's voice came from her phone, "could you possibly end your call properly please, it's not exactly the way I like to start off my Saturday."

"Sorry Russell," Puck apologised when he picked up the phone and spoke into it, "my fault," he claimed, even though it wasn't. "But you know how it is when you just can't hold yourself back and really, you need to know that we are intending to make you a grandfather before too long, I know that you'll be as welcoming of our child as you are your other grandkids," he said, putting Russell on the spot. Puck ended the call before Russell could respond. "Why didn't he just end the call?" he asked Quinn quietly, after checking the screen several times to make sure that it had actually ended.

"God knows," Quinn sighed, she was rather embarrassed that her dad had heard them having sex on the breakfast table. Her dad was always the one who caught them in compromising positions, like the time he'd walked into her bedroom at Dudley Road, like the time he'd turned up at Frannie and Jordan's vacation home beside Lake Huron and caught them naked in front of the roaring fire, while Puck's face was buried between Quinn's thighs, like the time he'd driven past Quinn's car in the parking lot at Breadstix when they were both home in Lima and found them in the back seat with Quinn giving Puck a magnificent blow job.

"I think he gets off on it," Puck suggested and then tickled Quinn's clit to make her tremble. "I think that last time shouldn't count because it was compromised, I think we should go again," he suggested with a grin and then thrust his stiffening dick back inside her before she could make any objection.

"I think you might be right," Quinn breathed and wrapped her legs around his hips again. "But the bed is softer than this table," she mumbled, hoping that Puck would pick her up and carry her to the bed. He did.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure you don't mind me horning in on this moment?" Lydia asked with a nervous glance around at the other guests waiting to see the graduates receive their diplomas.<p>

"Not at all," Puck assured his mom, he looked around at the small crowd who had gathered to see Quinn. Judy, Russell and his wife, Frannie and her husband - thankfully free of their three boys for the weekend - himself, his mom and even Rachel had turned up. "Quinn is going to be thrilled that she has so much support from all of us, I know I am so proud of her," he said and hugged his mom.

"I am too," Lydia mumbled into her son's uniform. "I'm proud of you both," she added and looked up into her son's smiling face. "Oh my word," she breathed as she suddenly realised who the woman standing with Rachel Berry was. "Look, look who's there," she whispered and then swallowed hard.

"Holy shit," Puck sighed and then glanced around to see if Judy or anyone else had noticed, they hadn't. "Quinn is going to be knocked sideways by this. In a good way," he hurried to assure his mom. "Shelby, hi," he said as Rachel and the dark haired woman approached him. "And you must be Beth," he said to the blonde haired girl between them.

"Yes," the toothless six-year-old replied with a beaming grin, "and you're Noah Puckerman, my birth dad," she announced fairly loudly. "When will I get to see Quinn?" she asked of her mother, glancing up with slightly squinting eyes.

"Soon, sweetie," Shelby assured the precocious child, "you'll see her soon, let's sit down and watch," she encouraged.

* * *

><p>"...Lucy Quinn Fabray," the dean announced. The ripple of applause continued as Quinn swept across the stage in her cap and gown, to receive the rolled up parchment. Quinn's eyes widened when she noticed who was sat beside Puck and Rachel.<p>

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit," Quinn muttered almost silently as she hurried past the other graduates to reach her family in the audience. "Hi," she said quietly, excitedly, she had to touch Puck, land in his arms but she couldn't take her eyes off the beautiful little girl at his side.

"You're Quinn," Beth announced as if Quinn didn't know who she was. "You're my birth momma," she added, again quite loudly. It seemed that the one thing that Beth had inherited from Puck was a lack of restraint, her looks she had certainly inherited from Quinn.

"Yes," Quinn replied with a tremulous smile on her lips, she wasn't sure that she'd even blinked yet, she didn't want to, just in case the vision evaporated.

"I got to have a day off school to be here," Beth said with a huge amount of pleasure. "Toria Fox didn't get to have a day off even when she busted her arm, her momma made her go to school with a pink cast on," she told Quinn.

"Oh," Quinn replied, she had no idea what to say, she wanted to reach out and grasp the little girl to her chest and never, ever let her go.

"My momma says I talk too much," Beth informed everyone. "Do you think I talk too much?" she asked and looked up at Puck.

"Nope, I think you're perfect," Puck replied and lifted her into his arms.

"Rachel said you're getting married," Beth said, her voice was still quite loud.

"That's right, we are," Quinn answered and allowed her trembling fingers to touch Beth's knee.

"Can I be a flower girl?" Beth asked. "I ain't never been a flower girl, Toria Fox has and she got a silver necklace and she wears it all the time to show off, can I get a silver necklace?" she asked with blessed innocence.

"Bethany Corcoran," Shelby spluttered, she was shocked but also amused by her daughter's forthrightness. "Don't be so rude," she admonished. "Really, she has not been brought up that way, I don't know what's gotten in to her, she's been the same ever since she saw Annie in New York with Rachel," she muttered, embarrassed by the looks that were coming her way.

Puck was trying desperately to hold in the laughter. "Of course you can be a flower girl," he replied with a glance at Quinn, he saw the happiness shining in her eyes, she so wanted Beth to be there. "And I'm sure we can come up with something better than a silver necklace for a gift," he assured her.

"I'm sure that we can," Quinn agreed. Rachel hugged Quinn from the side, she knew how emotional Quinn would be finding this, she also felt that it was something that Quinn so totally deserved, she had worked her ass off for the last four years to complete her degree and now she was heading back to Ohio to marry her sweetheart. Rachel sniffed back a tear, all was right with the world, everything was exactly as it should be.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.**

**A/N: ...and we also have some news for you, truth is...**

"Morning," Puck whispered huskily and then bent to drop a swift kiss on Quinn's slightly dry lips. "Happy wedding day."

"Shit, what are you doing here? I mean, I know I called you, but I didn't expect you to come over right away," Quinn hissed with a glance at her bedroom door. "My mom will kill you if she finds you here," she warned and then sighed when Puck slid onto her bed beside her. "Five minutes, then you have to go," she said and hugged him close. "It's bad luck you know," she added and then giggled when Puck's fingers stroked that spot on her waist, the one that always made her jerk, her tickle spot. "How did you get in here, anyway?" she asked, she felt like she'd only closed her eyes for a second since she'd made the call to Puck, she didn't think she'd fallen back to sleep.

"Through the window," Puck admitted with a nod towards her open bedroom window. "It was open, that's the same as an invitation," he advised solemnly and then proceeded to place tiny, little kisses all over her face, throat and chest.

"It was open because it's the middle of August and it was damn hot through the night," Quinn replied, but she didn't push him off when he rolled her beneath him.

"I missed you last night," Puck pouted and trailed a line of kisses from her jaw to her nipple. "And I couldn't wait to see you after you called."

"One night," Quinn sighed as his tongue flicked her sensitive flesh, "it was just one night and it's tradition," she reminded him, and then her body twitched as though Puck had flicked a switch. "Oh God," she sighed. "Quick, be quick," she instructed and threw back the light blanket that covered her. Puck landed between Quinn's thighs, he struggled one handed to release his aching, screaming flesh. "Here," Quinn groaned and helped, she was as desperate as he was, she'd hated waking up without him beside her, that habit hadn't taken very long to become ingrained, they'd only lived together for two months but to Quinn, it felt so natural, it felt like forever.

"Oh, baby," Puck sighed as he sank into her, his shorts were only just shoved out of the way. Talk was lost in the sighs and moans that filled the room, in the creaks and groans of Quinn's bed as they moved with increasing speed.

"Quinn, darling, are you awa...oh my God, Noah? What are you doing here?" Judy cried, shocked as she spotted the couple. Quickly she slammed the door closed and then knocked. Puck grunted as his body clenched, his release shot deep, deep inside Quinn.

"Bathroom," Quinn hissed to Puck, he got up and almost ran there. "Come in, mom," she called towards the door and tugged the blanket back over her at the same time. "Sorry about that," she said with a shy smile as Judy entered once more with the breakfast tray balanced on one hand. "Is that for me?" she asked unnecessarily. Judy nodded and glanced towards the bathroom that Puck was now emerging from, his pants back in place.

"Morning, Judy," Puck said and took a seat on the bed beside Quinn. "And yes, I know that we agreed that we would spend last night apart, and we did, but there was a reason I came over this morning," he explained quickly, before she could say anything. "Do you want to do it?" he asked Quinn, she shook her head shyly. "Ok, so, Judy, you're the first one to know this," he said with a quick nervous glance to Quinn. "Quinn took a test this morning," he began and then slid his arm around her shoulders, "and it was positive," he added, he didn't get any further, Judy squealed and launched herself at Quinn and almost succeeded in dislodging the breakfast tray.

"Oh my God," Judy whispered through her tears. "It's your wedding day and you find out that you're going to be parents too? Oh, sweetie, that's amazing," she sighed and reached out to draw Puck into the hug too. "I'm so happy for you, both of you," she cried, and she was, she truly was. Puck managed to stay around for another hour or so before Judy shooed him away for the wedding roller-coaster to begin, she absolutely would not allow him to catch even the smallest glimpse of the dress.

"Probably a good job I went for the flowy type of dress instead of a fitted type, huh?" Quinn commented to Judy once she was dressed. They both glanced at Quinn's cleavage that seemed to have sprouted overnight. "Were my boobs this big yesterday?" she asked and shrugged her shoulders to try to minimise her magnificent chest.

"They must have been," Judy replied, but she too was mesmerised by the bounteous flesh on show. "Perhaps we didn't notice because you wore a bra yesterday and you can't with this dress," she pointed out. The mid-calf length, halter neck dress, didn't cover Quinn's back at all and it dipped very low over the curve of her buttocks, the deep v between her breasts mirrored the shape, it was both revealing and flattering, in a beautiful ivory colour that made Quinn's lightly tanned skin look as though it glowed. The beautiful lotus flower tattoo that she'd had done to cover the Ryan Seacrest monstrosity actually looked quite stunning there at the base of her spine. Quinn gave herself another once over in the full length mirror. She knew that she would never have had the confidence to wear a dress of this design if they were actually going to have the ceremony in the church or the synagogue, she was glad they were holding it in her mother's garden.

"You look beautiful," Judy sniffed and pressed a tearful kiss to Quinn's hair. Quinn looked at her mom in the mirror, stood as she was with her hands on Quinn's shoulders. "No, you don't _look_ beautiful, you _are _beautiful, inside and out, you amaze me with your resilience, you have withstood so much more than I ever could have, I am in awe of you, I love you and I wish you so much happiness, both of you, you and Noah, oh, no, I mean all of you, you, Noah and my grandbaby," she giggled. Quinn and her mom both shed a tear, but they were good tears, happy tears, cathartic tears, regenerating tears. "Oh God, I look like a hag," Judy groaned once they were both back under control.

"You do not," Quinn denied quickly and hugged her mom tight. "And did you remember to invite that Richard Gere lookalike?" she asked with her eyebrow tilted up and her lips trying not to smile. "He is so into you," she crowed to Judy. "You should have seen him staring at you last weekend at church," she giggled. "He's a widower, right?" she asked and then leaned forwards to apply more lip gloss.

"I might have asked him to stop by later," Judy replied nonchalantly, trying her very best to seem uninterested.

"Go mom," Quinn whispered and turned slightly to hug her blushing mother. Quinn was really glad that her mom was moving on with her life, her dad had, almost before the ink was dry on the divorce papers, he'd remarried. Not to the tattooed freak that he'd run away with, no, he'd married a shy, timid woman, a woman rather like Judy had been in the old days, in the days when she still allowed Russell to speak for her, to guide her, to organise her thinking.

"Are you almost ready?" Frannie asked from the bedroom doorway. "There's a guy downstairs in a military uniform who looks like he's going to throw up any second," she teased.

"Does he really?" Quinn asked, immediately concerned for Puck.

"Nah," Frannie replied with a grin and waddled into the room, "he's cool, he's keeping everyone entertained with stories of the two of you in high school," she added.

"Oh, crap," Quinn groaned and hurried to finish getting ready.

* * *

><p>"Ok, so we wanted to tell all of you together," Puck said nervously and glanced around at the various elements of their families, the parents, the grandparents, sisters, Jake, etc, who were all gathered together in the dining room for a quick glass of champagne before they went to find their seats to watch the wedding.<p>

"Spit it out," Russell all but growled. "If this little shit is going to say he's changed his mind, I'll..."

"So the thing is, we found out this morning that Quinn is pregnant," Puck announced and then let go of a huge held in breath. He glanced around again and saw the shock on his mom's face, but it looked like happy shock.

"Oh my darlings," Lydia cried and hugged both Puck and Quinn together. "Nana Lydia," she trilled and hugged Quinn even harder. "I'm going to be Nana Lydia," she announced to her own mother.

"Great Nana Beth," Puck's nana said quietly, testing out her new title and finding that she quite enjoyed it.

"Sweetheart, I am so happy for you," Quinn's grandma said quietly into her ear as she hugged her granddaughter. "I'm glad that you're actually going to have the ring on your finger though," she added and kissed Quinn's cheek.

"Stop at one," Frannie advised, also very quietly as she sniffed back the tears too.

"Bit late for that advice," Puck murmured as he hugged Frannie too.

"Maddy is going to be so jealous," Jenna sighed happily

"Ok, so we need to hurry, we'll go, you have about five minutes or so, are you ready?" Judy asked, she bustled about to make herself useful, urging the rest of the family to go out to the garden where all the guests were waiting.

Russell stayed back for a few moments, he waited until everyone else had left. "Are you sure this is the way you want to do this?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Quinn replied. "Dad, you aren't giving me away, not to Puck, and be honest, you don't want to. No one is _giving_ me to Puck except me, _I'm _giving me to Puck, he's giving himself to me, we're giving ourselves to each other, that's why we want to walk down the aisle together, just be happy for us, ok?" she explained.

"Ok," Russell agreed and looked at his daughter's shining eyes, he glanced at Puck in his dress uniform, he had to admit, it suited the guy, but he still didn't like him. "You'll look after her, won't you?" he asked gruffly.

"Of course, I'll look after her, I'll look after both of them," Puck replied with a half smile. "I told you years ago, I love her, I always have, I always will and I'll spend the rest of my life loving her, and anyone else who comes along," he added with a shrug and a grin at Quinn. "I'm ready for this, we both are."

"Good, I'm glad that you are," Russell said, he wasn't really sure what to say to that, there wasn't anything he really could say. Russell glanced over his shoulder out into the flower bedecked back yard that was teaming with friends and family, all of them waiting to see the bride and groom make their entrance and finally make their vows to each other. "I think it's time," he added and then stepped out to give Puck and Quinn a moment or two alone.

"Ready?" Puck asked, Quinn nodded and then shivered slightly. "We're ready," he told Rachel who was waiting just outside.

"Let's go," Rachel told Beth and Jenna and then smiled as Beth waltzed, full of self-importance, down the pathway between the rows of chairs that faced the gazebo, scattering rose petals as she went. Jenna followed, looking grand in her matching dress. "Go," Rachel whispered to Puck and Quinn when they glanced at her. "He's watching you, you know," she said as they passed, "Finn, he's watching you and he would be so happy for you, this is exactly the way that things should be," she added quietly.

Puck and Quinn slowly approached the celebrant as Mercedes Jones sang Amazing Grace, she sang it so sweetly, so beautifully. Dotted around the seating area, in random places, other friends from glee club stood to add their voices to hers, the surround sound effect was magnificent. Even Jake, as he stood waiting in the gazebo with the celebrant, and Rachel who was walking behind them, joined in.

As soon as they reached her, the celebrant spoke to Puck and Quinn. "Are you ready?" she whispered, they both nodded. "Hello everyone, my name is Josie and I'm the celebrant here today, so if you're all ready, we'll begin. Alright then, we are gathered here today to celebrate one of life's greatest moments, the blending of two hearts, the joining of Noah and Quinn in marriage," she announced with a glance that encompassed the whole of the gathering.

"We have come together to witness the union of these two hearts. Out of the routine of ordinary life, the extraordinary has happened. Noah and Quinn met, fell in love, and are celebrating as much with their wedding today," Josie said with a gentle smile at the happy couple. "Noah and Quinn, life is given to each of us as individuals, and yet we must learn to live together. Love is given to us by our family and friends - we learn to love by being loved. Learning to love and living together is one of the greatest challenges of life, and it is the shared goal of a married life," she intoned seriously. "I shall now read from First Corinthians," she added.

"Love is very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud. Love is never haughty or selfish or rude. Love does not demand it's own way. Love is not irritable or touchy. Love does not hold grudges and will hardly notice when others do it wrong. Love is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever truth wins out. If you love someone, you will be loyal to him or her no matter what the costs. You will always believe in them, always expect the best in them, and will always stand your ground in defending them," Josie read from her bible and then put it down on the conveniently placed small table. "And now to the Jewish part of the ceremony," she explained as she picked up the wine glass.

"In this glass are the fruits of God, humankind, and Mother Earth. The years of our lives are like a cup of wine that is poured out for the sake of labour, honour, and love. Many days you will sit at the same table and eat and drink together. Many are the experiences you will share.

"Blessed art thou oh lord our god king of the universe who has created the fruit of the vine," Josie said and then repeated the same in Hebrew. "Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha'olam bo're p'ri ha gafen. You may now drink from this fountain of love," she said as she handed the glass to Puck. "Face each other and hold hands," she whispered the instruction. "Repeat after me," she said, looking first at Puck.

"I, Noah Puckerman, take you Lucy Quinn Fabray to be my wife, my partner in life, and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will trust you and honour you, I will laugh with you and cry with you, I will love you faithfully, through the best and the worst, through the difficult and the easy, whatever may come, I will always be there," Puck said, repeating word for word what the celebrant instructed. "As I have given you my hand to hold, so I give you my life to keep, so help me God," he vowed and felt a rush of adrenaline shoot through him. Puck had never felt that he would ever be able to say those words to Quinn, not ever, he always thought that something - or someone - would come along and stop them, prevent them from getting married, at least to each other.

"Quinn?" Josie whispered and brought Quinn out of her love-filled reverie.

"I, Lucy Quinn Fabray, take you Noah Puckerman to be my husband, my partner in life, and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will trust you and honour you, I will laugh with you and cry with you, I will love you faithfully, through the best and the worst, through the difficult and the easy, whatever may come, I will always be there," Quinn managed to say, in a tremulous voice, although she'd had to stop more than once, when her voice disappeared. "As I have given you my hand to hold, so I give you my life to keep, so help me God," she vowed.

"And now for the I do's," Josie said with a cheerful smile at the congregation. "Do you, Noah Puckerman, take Lucy Quinn Fabray to be your wife? Do you promise to love, cherish and protect her, whether in good fortune or in adversity, and to seek with her a life hallowed by God?"

"I do," Puck replied with a sigh and a slight laugh of relief.

"Quinn," Josie said quietly to make sure she had Quinn's attention. "Do you, Lucy Quinn Fabray, take Noah Puckerman to be your husband? Do you promise to love, cherish and protect him, whether in good fortune or in adversity, and to seek with him a life hallowed by God?"

"I do," Quinn said on a sob as another tear rolled unchecked down her face. "I'm sorry, I'm just so emotional," she whispered.

"My dear, it's perfectly normal," Josie whispered back. "And now it's time to exchange rings, who has the rings?" she asked.

"I do," Jake replied and handed them over to Josie for her to bless.

"Thank you," Josie whispered to Jake. "The ring is a symbol of the unbroken circle of love. Love freely given has no beginning and no end, no giver and no receiver for each is the giver and each is the receiver. May these rings always remind you of the vows you have taken. Now, repeat after me," she instructed once again.

"I Noah Puckerman, take thee, Lucy Quinn Fabray to be my wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, in joy and sorrow, and I promise my love to you," Puck declared as he placed the sparkling diamond ring on Quinn's finger. "And with this ring, I take you as my wife, for as long as we both shall live."

Quinn took a steadying breath before she began her part. "I Lucy Quinn Fabray, take thee, Noah Puckerman, to be my husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, in joy and sorrow, and I promise my love to you, " she said, again her voice almost broke as struggled to push the plain gold band onto Puck's finger. "And with this ring, I take you as my husband, for as long as we both shall live," she finished and giggled a little, they were almost done.

"Now we come to the seven blessings," Josie explained to the people watching, the people who were sniffing and dabbing at eyes, smiling happily at the beautiful young people who stood in front of her. " You are blessed, Lord our God, the sovereign of the world, who created everything for his glory. You are blessed, Lord our God, the sovereign of the world, the creator of man. You are blessed, Lord our God, the sovereign of the world, who created man in His image, in the pattern of His own likeness, and provided for the perpetuation of his kind. You are blessed, Lord, the creator of man. Let the barren city be jubilantly happy and joyful at her joyous reunion with her children. You are blessed, Lord, who makes Zion rejoice with her children. Let the loving couple be very happy, just as you made your creation happy in the Garden of Eden, so long ago. You are blessed, Lord, who makes the groom and the bride happy. You are blessed, Lord our God, the sovereign of the world, who created joy and celebration, groom and bride, rejoicing, jubilation, pleasure and delight, love and brotherhood, peace and friendship. May there soon be heard, Lord our God, the sound of joy and the sound of celebration, the voice of a groom and the voice of a bride, their happy shouting from their weddings and of young men and women from their feasts of song. You are blessed, Lord, who makes the groom and the bride rejoice together. You are blessed, Lord our God, the sovereign of the world, creator of the fruit of the vine. Thank you," she said with a nod to the patience of the people before her. "And now for our closing prayer," she said and bent her head a little, everyone followed suit.

"I ask you and all your dear ones to bow your heads in reverence. Silently pray that God will bless the home of Noah and Quinn and that they each, and together, may achieve their highest hopes. Bless their marriage, O God, as they begin their journey down the road of life together. We don't know what lies ahead for the road turns and bends. But help them to make the best of whatever comes their way. Help them to continue to enjoy each other as they did when they first met. Help them to realise that nothing nor no one is perfect and to look for the good in all things and all people including themselves. Help them to respect each other's likes and dislikes, opinions and beliefs, hopes and dreams and fears even though they may not always understand them. Help them to learn from each other and to help each other to grow mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Help them to realise that no matter what happens to them they will hold on to each other and know that things have a way of working out for the good. Help them to create for their children a peaceful, stable home of love as a foundation on which they can build their lives, but most of all, dear God, help them to keep lit the torch of love that they now share so that by their loving example they may pass on the light of love to their children and to their children's children forever. Amen," she finished and then paused for a moment of personal prayer. "May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance unto to you, and give you peace, amen."

"Amen," the murmured response from every person was a low rumble in the garden.

Josie looked around and smiled. "The final act of this ceremony is the shattering of the glass," she explained, she was rather pleased that this ceremony had combined elements of both Jewish and Christian tradition. "This old custom has many traditions, with many interpretations. At one time it was meant to scare off demons that frequent celebrations, or pesky wedding guests, apparently," she said with a shrug and a grin. "Today, the fragility of the glass suggests the frailty of human relationships. Just as permanent and final as the breaking of this glass is unchangeable, the glass is broken to protect this marriage with the implied prayer," she explained and then turned back to Puck and Quinn. "May your bond of love be as difficult to break, as it would be to put back together these pieces of glass," she told them. "Knowing that this marriage is permanent, Noah and Quinn should strive every day to show each other love and respect and happiness," she said firmly. "After Noah breaks the glass, I invite everyone to shout the Hebrew words 'Mazel Tov', it means good luck and congratulations," she instructed and then placed a white cotton wrapped glass on the floor for Puck to break. Once the task was completed and the cries had died down, Josie continued. "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride," she told Puck, he didn't need telling twice.

"Thank God," Puck murmured against Quinn's lips, he adored the feeling of her bare arms around his neck, the warmth of her skin against his, "I love you," he whispered.

"You better," Quinn whispered back, "otherwise this was a big hooha for nothing," she added with a grin. Puck bent his knees a little and gathered Quinn into his arms, lifting her from her feet. He spun around with her in his arms, just slowly, he didn't want to cause her any upset, it felt just like that day when she had urged him to stay, that day that had started all of this. Puck still loved that day, the day when she had finally, publicly, chosen him.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Josie announced, once Quinn was back on her own two feet, "I would like to introduce the happy couple, Mr and Mrs Noah Puckerman," she said and applauded along with everyone else as Puck and Quinn turned to face their family and friends.

Cheers rang out around the garden, everyone stood and continued their applause. Puck and Quinn slowly walked back down the aisle, acknowledging their friends and family members along the way.

* * *

><p>Wait staff circulated among the gathered guests to distribute champagne, orange juice and a number of other drinks and combinations. People stood around chatting, laughing and having a good time. "May I have your attention please?" Russell called, and held up a hand to gain it from everyone. After a couple of moments, everyone was looking at Russell and was quiet. "Thank you," he said. "First of all, I would like to congratulate my daughter and my son-in-law," he said, raising his glass to Puck and Quinn, who stood together off to Russell's side. "They have worked hard to put all this together since they called me in, when was it? April? May?" he asked.<p>

"May," Puck replied and hugged Quinn just a tad closer to his side.

"In May," Russell resumed his speech, "to tell me that they had chosen a date. They've had help, obviously, from Judy," he acknowledged his ex-wife, "from Lydia," he acknowledged Puck's mom, both ladies lifted their glasses in response, "from Frannie and from this little lady," he added and brought everyone's attention to Beth, who stood in front of him quite proudly, smiling and showing off her two new front teeth. "And this little lady is where it all started for them," Russell explained with a gentle hand on Beth's head. "Seven years ago now," he said, taking Quinn especially by surprise, "we were shocked with the news that our sixteen year old daughter was pregnant," he announced and looked to Judy for her nod of agreement. "This young man," he pointed to Puck who blushed slightly, "eventually came forward and admitted that he was the one who was responsible, and he told me then that he loved my daughter, that he wanted to take care of her, that he wanted to marry her someday, and even then, I think I believed him," he told the crowd, they were lapping it up. "Even back then, I think, if I'd given him permission, he would have married her then," he said in a slightly wondering voice, Puck nodded, yes he would have. "But things didn't run smoothly for these two," Russell stated, bringing everyone's attention back to Beth. "The baby came and for the best reasons in the world, was adopted," he acknowledged Shelby Corcoran who stood by with her own glass of wine in her hand, "and for almost the whole of the last six years, Beth hasn't been in their lives, or rather, they haven't been in hers," Russell stated and again glanced at Shelby, "but I think that all that has changed now, and honey, you made the best damn flower girl I have ever seen," he praised Beth, she preened and managed to look coy all at the same time.

"I'd like to propose a toast," Russell continued and held up his glass, "to Quinn and Noah, may your lives always be as happy as you are today," he said and stepped towards Quinn to kiss her cheek. "Also, this is for you," he added, and reached into his pocket for a dark blue velvet jewelry box. "My grandmother gave this to your mom to wear when Frannie was born, the story goes that it has been passed down in my family since 1759, and it is always given to the mother of the eldest granddaughter, only to be passed on when the next generation produces a girl," he explained and showed off the rather gaudy, teardrop diamond pendant. "Quinnie, as the mother of the oldest granddaughter, this is yours by right, until you become the grandmother of a beautiful new baby girl, then her mother will be the next owner," he said, rather astounding Puck, in all honesty, that he was so publicly acknowledging Beth and her importance within the family.

Quinn sniffed back a shedload of emotion as she accepted the necklace from her dad, she glanced to Frannie and saw the happy shine of tears in her eyes, the nod of acceptance from her sister. "That's very pretty," Beth said, almost condescendingly as she studied the diamond that Puck was hanging around Quinn's neck, "but it's not as nice as _my _necklace," she bragged and touched the gold, heart-shaped locket that Puck and Quinn had presented to her in honour of her being their flower girl. "Mine even has a picture in it," she grinned and tried to open the heart. "It's Puck and Quinn and me when I was just born," she informed the people nearest to her, in a conspiratorial manner, showing off the picture once she'd opened it up. "I got this for being a flower girl," she confided, "it's way better than Toria Fox's so she can stop showing off now," she added quite firmly.

"Really, I don't know where to put myself," Shelby muttered quietly to Rachel who was trying desperately not to laugh at the little girl who was almost a sister to her. "I am so embarrassed, she simply will not stop playing Annie," she grumbled. Rachel couldn't take it anymore and the laughter burst forth, this opened the floodgates for everyone else to do the same.

* * *

><p>People began to take their seats at the intimate tables that were in groups around the garden, all within sight of the longer table that would hold the wedding party. Puck waited until absolutely everyone had found their place. "I know that usually, speeches are at the end, after the meal," he said as he stood and gained everyone's attention. "But there hasn't been anything particularly normal or usual about this wedding, We've combined Jewish and Christian, we chose to walk together rather than separately, we chose to do it here instead of in a church or temple," he added and looked around. "And I can't think of a better place, because right there is where I told Quinn for the very first time that I loved her and wanted to marry her," he announced and pointed to a spot near the patio. "We were fifteen years old and I don't think she believed me," he snickered and looked at Quinn who looked puzzled, she shook her head. "But then, it's possible that she didn't understand me because I didn't say it in English," he admitted with a slight blush. "Nana Beth would have been so proud if she'd heard me," he mocked himself.<p>

"Noah, I was there at your Bar Mitzvah, I've heard you speaking Hebrew, your pronunciation is terrible," Puck's nana Beth grumbled, everyone laughed, Puck too, he nodded in agreement.

"That's true," Puck laughed and then turned back to Quinn and lifted an eyebrow at her, she nodded. "There's something we'd like to say, now that we've got all of you together," he said and had to stop for a second because his smile was so huge he didn't think he'd be able to get the words out. "See, the thing is, today wasn't particularly about two becoming one, as some songs would have you believe, it was more about two becoming four," he said with a touch of mystery. Puck held his hand out and helped Quinn to her feet, he glanced around and caught Beth's eye and motioned for her to come and join them too, she did at a run. "Now, you all know that Beth came into our lives six years ago," he stated and saw the nods, heard the rumbles of assent, "and today, just this morning, we found out that Beth is going to be a big sister," he added and hugged Quinn close, "in about seven months or so," he said although he wasn't sure he'd been heard among the cheers, the shouts and the applause.

"Is that the truth?" Sam asked, from one of the tables close to the main table. "You knocked her up again?" he demanded.

"Yep," Puck answered proudly, nothing could take the shine off this for him, not today.

"Then it's probably a good job you married her," Sam added with a laugh and began to clap again which made everyone else join in.

"Truth is, I've always wanted to marry her," Puck said with quiet sincerity, his hand still held onto Quinn's. "I have loved her for forever and I will continue to love her until the world stops turning."

"And maybe just a bit beyond that," Quinn added for Puck's ears only as they hugged and then kissed to the timeless tone of the chinking of glasses. "You know what, Puckerman?" she whispered. "You got this."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.**

**A/N: I can manage on my own, really I can...can't I?**

"Hey," Puck said quietly when he found Quinn crouched by the side of the toilet, she looked terrible. "Sick again?" he asked and pulled her into his arms once he'd lowered himself to the floor too. "This is awful, were you this sick with Beth?"

"No," Quinn wailed, she wanted to cry every second of the day, her boobs felt like they were trying to escape from every bra that she put on and every single time she smelt her favourite perfume, blah, she puked and puked and puked. Any sensible person might have stopped wearing the perfume but Quinn refused to be beaten like that. "I hate this, we are not getting pregnant ever again," she vowed.

"Oh, baby," Puck crooned and pulled her even tighter into his arms. "Can I get you anything?" he asked, he really wanted to know how to make her feel better.

"No," Quinn sniffed and then started crying again. "Even my students are beginning to ask what's wrong with me," she sobbed, "and they've only known me for a week."

Puck had no idea what to say to Quinn, so he just kept shushing her, comforting her and he hoped to God that Frannie had answered his email because he was getting quite desperate. "I don't know if this is the right time to tell you," Puck sighed and then winced, he just knew he was going to be in for another slew of tears, "but I have to go away for a couple of weeks," he said then looked at Quinn, she seemed to have stopped crying for a second. "I've been temporarily seconded to different training squadron," he announced and really, he was quite thrilled, it was quite an honour to be chosen like that.

"So, who will be here with me?" Quinn asked, she sounded like a five year old.

"Baby, I'll only be a couple of hours away," Puck said, "but I will have to stay there, your mom and my mom are only an hour and a half away," he reminded her. "Maybe your mom can come and stay while I'm gone," he suggested. Quinn burst into tears again, even louder and more dramatic than before. "It is only for a couple of weeks," he repeated, he hoped that would soothe her. It didn't.

* * *

><p>"Seriously, either the house is going to sink or the floors are going to rot," Puck muttered to Frannie. "I mean, I know Joshua is only four weeks old, I know that you can't come, but could you talk to her? Please? Just talk to her, or me, tell me what I can do to help her," he begged.<p>

"I'll see what I can do, but Puck, hormones are not to be trifled with," Frannie advised. "And if she is feeling emotional then it's better out than in," she sighed and had to sniff back a tear herself. "Maybe you could see if Shelby and Beth can visit for the weekend or something, you know, to make the time that you're away seem shorter, maybe, I don't know, I've got baby-brain, I'm not even sure what colour the sky is or if I've sent my kids to sports club in clothes or pyjamas," she mocked herself. "Listen, Puck, that's the baby crying, I've got to go, I'll talk to mom, see if we can do something together, but talk to Shelby, maybe seeing Beth will be good for her."

"Thanks Frannie," Puck replied then hung up. "Fine, I'll call Shelby," he muttered to himself as he looked up the number in his contacts. "Shelby, hi, it's Puck," he said when his call was answered. "Listen, I have a favour to ask you," he said quietly and then walked into the kitchen. Quinn, listening covertly on the stairs, felt slighted that he was now out of earshot. "Cool, thanks, that's great," he said as he came back out of the kitchen with an open bottle of beer in his hand. "Bye," he said and then ended the call.

"Who was that?" Quinn asked quietly as she made her way down the stairs.

"No one," Puck replied and waited for her at the bottom. "How do you feel now?" he asked, he studied her face, she still looked crappy, pale and crappy.

"Better," Quinn said with determination. "Don't forget it's our first OB appointment later this afternoon," she reminded him with a glance at the beer.

"Alcohol-free," Puck pointed out and showed Quinn the label.

"It still smells the same," Quinn pouted and gulped back another wave of nausea. Puck gave Quinn a little nod and then went back to the kitchen to dispose of his beer.

* * *

><p>"Mr and Mrs Puckerman," the receptionist said with a smile as they approached her desk. "If you could fill out these forms please, and take them with you when the nurse calls you through, I do need to see your medical insurance first, though," she explained and passed Quinn a clipboard that had both a pen and the various paperwork attached. "Thank you," she said once she had Puck's insurance information in her hand. "Please take a seat, you'll be called through shortly," she advised and then turned back to her computer screen.<p>

"Thank you," Quinn mumbled, she felt quite self-conscious that all of the ladies who were sitting in the waiting room seemed to be at the latter end of their pregnancies while she was only in her first trimester. "Did I ever get that big?" she whispered to Puck as they saw a poor woman lumber to her feet when her name was called.

"Nope," Puck whispered back, "your ass has never been that big," he complimented Quinn and leaned towards her to check out the questions that needed answering. "Age," he said and pointed to the question, redirecting Quinn's attention. "Previous obstetric history?" he asked. "What does that mean?"

"It means they want to know if I've been pregnant before," Quinn hissed her answer to him and filled in the pertinent details.

"Oh," Puck replied and then looked around the waiting room. He felt a little out of place, there was only one other guy in the room besides him, they nodded awkwardly at each other, brothers in their discomfort.

"Mrs Puckerman?" a nurse called gently, she noted Quinn's head as it shot up and focused on her. "Would you like to follow me?" she asked. "No, no, not for this part," she said as Puck made to stand too.

Slowly, all of the women were called through the magical doors, leaving Puck and the other guy alone in the waiting room. "How many?" the guy asked Puck.

"Sorry?" Puck replied, he wasn't sure what the guy was asking at all.

"Kids, how many kids?" the guy clarified.

"Oh, right, this is erm, actually, this is our second," Puck replied honestly.

"Girl or boy?" he asked Puck.

"Girl, we had a daughter six years ago," Puck explained.

"Oh," the guy murmured, his interest was obviously waning.

"You?" Puck asked, to break the silence.

"Number five for us," the guy answered proudly, "all boys, hoping this one is going to be a little girl and then we'll be done," he sighed.

"Oh," Puck murmured. They both lapsed into silence while they waited for their wives to return. "Hey," Puck smiled when Quinn came back to the waiting room. "So?" he asked, he had no idea what went on behind those hallowed doors, he hadn't taken much notice before.

"Well, so far I've lost seven pounds," Quinn sighed and sat down rather heavily in the seat beside Puck.

"So now we wait for what?" Puck asked when Quinn made no move to gather her belongings.

"Now we wait to see the OB," Quinn replied with a tired smile.

"Ok, is that when they do the ultrasound thingy?" Puck whispered the question, he was very conscious that the professional dad in the corner would know exactly what happened in the consulting rooms, Puck felt like an amateur in comparison.

"No, we don't get that done till the next visit," Quinn answered and handed over the schedule of appointments. "This is a sort of timeline for appointments, at least, it is if everything runs smoothly and is trouble free," she muttered. "So, where are you going, on this training thing?" she asked out of the blue.

"Oh, Atlanta," Puck replied, he wasn't expecting a question about that.

Quinn was silent for a moment. "That's more than a couple of hours away," she retorted.

"Not by plane," Puck responded. "Baby, I'm a pilot, I fly airplanes, it's actually less than a two hour flight," he explained. "I'm going on a training course, did you think I'd drive there?" he asked.

"I didn't think about it," Quinn mumbled her reply. They both stood when Quinn's name was called again. "You get to come in for this part," she said and held Puck's hand tightly.

* * *

><p>"Mr and Mrs Puckerman," the doctor said jovially as Puck and Quinn took the seats in front of his desk. "I'm Dr Reid," he introduced himself. "Now, let's just review," he said and looked down at the paperwork on his desk. "So this is your second pregnancy," he said and watched them nod, "your last pregnancy, although you were very young, was trouble free," he commented, "you are in your tenth week right now, blood pressure, urine sample, everything normal, your weight is a little bit of a concern, you are on the very edge of healthy there, Mrs Puckerman," he said and looked quite sternly at Quinn. "How is the morning sickness?" he asked.<p>

"Terrible," Puck answered for Quinn, she looked like she was going to cry again and in truth, Quinn felt as if she'd just been told off by the doctor. "Anything sets her off, any time of the day, it's bad, much worse than it was the last time," he said and picked up Quinn's hand to rest it on his thigh.

Dr Reid looked more closely at Quinn. "Hmm, I can give you something to try and combat the sickness, I don't think it's as severe as hyperemesis," he said, almost to himself.

"Thank you," Quinn mumbled, even knowing that she could take something to help combat the debilitating sickness that hit her throughout the day made her want to cry even more.

"And don't worry, the crying jags are completely normal," the doctor added with a smile.

* * *

><p>Puck collected the medication from the pharmacy while Quinn sat outside in the fresh air. "Do you think we'll ever get away on honeymoon?" she asked when Puck sat down beside her.<p>

"It might be a while," Puck answered with a grin. "Hey, I have to take vacation time when the powers that be tell me I can," he reminded her. "But I thought that if maybe I save up as much vacation time as I can, I can take more time to be home with you when the baby comes," he offered and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Puck turned his head slightly and rested his lips on Quinn's hair. "What do you feel like doing for dinner tonight?" he asked into her hair.

"Do you think your mom would make her special dumpling soup if we call her right now?" Quinn sighed, her mouth was almost watering at the thought of it, the taste she remembered from many meals around the Puckermans' table.

"I'll call and ask," Puck replied, happy that at least something was nudging Quinn's appetite. "Hey, mom, are you home from work yet?" he asked when she answered his call. "Wonderful, wonderful, because your pregnant, hormonal, daughter-in-law is craving your special dumpling soup," he said quite loudly with a wink at Quinn. "Great, we'll start out right now, and we'll see you in a couple of hours, ok, see you soon, thanks mom," he said before he ended the call. "She's thrilled by the way," he told Quinn, and he was telling the truth, Lydia was ecstatic that Quinn wanted her to make something.

"Hi, Mrs Puckerman," a youthful voice said, from quite close by.

"Julia, hi," Quinn replied and sat up straighter, pulling away from Puck slightly. "What are you doing here?" she asked, nervous for the girl, if she was the one with the appointment at the medical center, all of the appointments were for the OB.

"I'm here with my sister, I'm watching her kids while she goes in to see how baby number three is doing," Julia answered with a grin. "Don't worry, I'm not that stupid to get knocked up at sixteen," she grinned and then turned and waltzed into the center without a backward glance.

"Well that felt like a slap," Puck commented and hugged Quinn close again. "Ready to head off to Lima?" he asked, hoping to deflect some of the emotion that he was sure Quinn was struggling with right about now. Quinn sniffed and nodded, yes, she was more than ready.

* * *

><p>"Oh, Lydia, I feel so sick all of the time," Quinn moaned, "I mean, I know I threw up when I was expecting Beth, but not this much."<p>

"Isn't it a good sign?" Lydia asked. "Doesn't it mean that the pregnancy is well established or something?"

"I think so, but damn, I wish it would just be over," Quinn wailed. "And Puck is leaving me. For two whole weeks," she cried, because that was how it felt, like he was leaving her, not that he was going away with his job, no, it felt like he was abandoning her.

Puck grinned when he heard Quinn's way of saying it. "I'm going to Atlanta on a training course for a couple of weeks," he explained to his mom. "And it's not like I get a choice about it," he added. "Plus, it will be really good for my record," he said and hoped his mom would understand, at least, he hoped she would understand better than Quinn did right now.

"Well, I have some vacation time due," Lydia said and looked at her son then Quinn, "how about if I come to visit for a while when Noah is away?" she offered.

"But what about Jenna?" Quinn sniffed.

"Jenna can stay here with my mom," Lydia said and hugged Quinn close. "Even if I only stay a couple of nights, if it gives you some peace of mind, it's worth it, right?" she soothed as she rubbed Quinn's shoulders in a maternal fashion.

"And Shelby and Beth are coming to see you the first weekend I'm away," Puck announced, he had hoped to keep it a secret for a while longer, but he knew that Quinn needed the confirmation that she wasn't being abandoned by the entire world.

"They are?" Quinn asked and then burst into tears at Puck's nod.

"That was your sister's idea by the way," Puck admitted when he finally managed to understand Quinn's words through her crying jag. She was thanking him for his thoughtfulness and really, he couldn't take the credit, the old Puck would have, but the new Puck had to give credit where it was due.

"So, by the time you've been to work, had a visit from Beth and Shelby, had a visit from my mom and probably your mom too, I'll be home and you won't even know you've missed me," Puck said with a big, over-the-top smile on his face.

"I'll know," Quinn murmured into Puck's chest. "But thanks, for everything," she whispered.

"Quinn, Noah," Jenna cried. "Can I feel the baby yet?" she demanded and thrust her hand between them to feel at Quinn's stomach.

"Not yet, too tiny," Puck answered and shoved Jenna's hand out of the way. "Great, I'm starved," he said in response to his mom's cry that dinner was ready.

They all sat at the table eating, laughing, talking and having a thoroughly good time when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Puck announced and stood up to answer the door. "Jake," he cried when he saw his brother. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I saw your truck when I was on my way to Ryder's house so I thought I'd call in, see how you are," Jake replied and returned Puck's hug. "How's Quinn?" he asked.

"Ask her yourself," Puck grinned. "It's Jake," he announced when they both walked into the kitchen.

"Jake, are you hungry?" Lydia asked and stood to get him a dish and some soup.

"I wasn't, but that smells delicious," Jake replied and sat down next to Jenna. "Hey, Squirt," he said and plonked a kiss on her head. "Thank you," he said to Lydia as she set the bowl down in front of him. "Mmmm," he sighed when he sniffed appreciatively. "So, how are you?" he asked Quinn.

"Fine," Quinn replied, a little embarrassed, she wasn't sure that a just-out-of-his-teens young man would particularly want to know the truth about his sister-in-law's pregnancy. Jake glanced at Puck and then back at Quinn with one eyebrow raised up. Quinn pouted and looked at Puck too. Obviously Puck had been talking with his brother, confiding in him. "Ok, so I'm sick most of the time, I cry at the most ridiculous stuff and I feel like my boobs are going to explode," she answered more honestly. "But we can deal with that, it's just temporary," she said with determination.

"It better be," Puck muttered behind his spoon. "Not the boobs, they can stay," he added and then tried to dodge the punch that came his way from Quinn.

After a pleasant evening, they climbed back into the truck and headed for home. "I feel mean that we didn't go see my mom," Quinn sighed. "I mean, we should have, I know it was late, but we could have taken ten minutes just to call in and see her," she pouted, she felt quite mean that they hadn't done so.

"Call her, tell her that we'll come over on Sunday for lunch with her if you want," Puck offered, he thought that Judy might quite like that anyway, he knew he would, Judy's Sunday roasts were legendary.

"Thank you," Quinn said quietly.

"What for?" Puck asked, confused by the emotional sound in Quinn's voice when she said that.

"For everything, for being you, for being my husband, just for everything," Quinn sniffed. Puck smiled and winked at her, he held out one hand for her to hold, even as he drove them home. This was one of the days that just being together made him feel like the richest person on the planet. Puck loved those days.

* * *

><p>"Was that your husband, Mrs Puckerman?" Julia asked on Monday morning, about ten minutes into the class.<p>

"Sorry?" Quinn replied, brought out of her own little world by the sound of voices. She really had to concentrate. "My husband?" she asked.

"Yes, the guy you were with at the medical center on Saturday," Julia clarified.

"Oh, yes, that was my husband," Quinn nodded, she was finally up to speed on her student's question. "Yes, my husband who is now in Atlanta, who is now millions of miles away from me, who won't be able to make me strawberry tea in the morning, who won't be able to shower with me tonight," she thought and then gave herself a mental shake. "Although that isn't really relevant to how Hamlet spoke about suicide, now is it?" she asked and directed the study back to the subject in hand.

"Are you sure that's what this is about?" one of the guys, who reminded Quinn of Puck when he was a teenager, asked from the back. "I mean, maybe Shakespeare is talking about jacking off when he wrote _O that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!_"

"Connor, I really don't think that is appropriate, do you?" Quinn stated, she didn't get flustered or embarrassed, she was far too wily for that, she knew that if she showed any of these kids even a hint of weakness, she'd be lost, they'd pounce and tear her apart, her career as a teacher would be over. "If you'd like to read out the full passage, I'm sure we'd all be happy to listen to you, go ahead," she instructed and stared at the boy until he squirmed slightly in his seat and then read out the full passage.

Later in the day, once she was in the teachers lounge, Quinn told a few of the others about her morning class. "Oh, that boy, he reminds me of someone I used to teach back in Lima," a vaguely familiar voice stated from behind Quinn. "A guy with a mohawk and a penchant for trouble," she added with a smile in her voice.

"Holly Holiday?" Quinn cried and leaped up to hug the older blonde woman. "How are you?" she demanded, thrilled to see her again. "I thought you'd given up substituting?" she asked.

"Mm, I did,for a while," Holly admitted, "but I missed it, so I started doing it again, I still like being able to flit around, I'd hate to be stuck in one place all the time, but if it works for you, fabulous. So? How is Puck?" she asked with a grin.

"He's great, he had to go to Georgia this morning, he's on a training course," Quinn replied with a self-pitying sigh. "Say, you don't feel like grabbing dinner later, do you?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course," Holly cried happily, "that would be great." So they made plans for after school and Quinn felt so much better.

* * *

><p>"Hey, baby," Puck murmured into his phone when Quinn answered.<p>

"Hi," Quinn replied, almost shyly, she suddenly felt, snuggled up in bed as she was, she felt like she was a teenager again, she felt like they were back in the days before Beth, back when they were still fairly innocent, back when they were still kids.

"So how was your day?" Puck asked, he turned over on his bed, he just wanted to listen to her voice, it didn't matter what she said, he just wanted to hear her.

"Great, it was great," Quinn replied with a smile, she told him all about her day at work. "And guess what," she said.

"What?" Puck asked, smiling at her enthusiasm.

"I had dinner with Holly Holiday," Quinn replied with a grin. "She asked how you are by the way and she says to tell you congratulations on finally making an honest woman of me, and she says that you should take the pain this time," she added paraphrasing the pertinent points of her conversation with the other woman.

"Cool, I'll try my best," Puck said with a slightly confused look on his face. Every night they talked to each other, had whispered conversations, just like they'd done when they were teenagers and still hiding their relationship, back when no one knew there was a Quick. "So where are you right now?" he asked late on Friday night.

"In bed," Quinn replied, "I'm all snuggled up with a book, I'm going to relax and fall asleep whenever I want to, wake up when I want to and just chill, I'm glad it's Saturday tomorrow," she told Puck with a contented smile on her face. "What about you?" she turned the question round on him.

"I'm in my room, I have to study, I'd kind of hoped they were going to give us some free time on the weekend, maybe enough to fly home to see you, but it looks like we're just powering through," Puck explained with a sigh as he glanced at the reams and reams of printed information that he had to read and process. "I kind of feel like it's a bit of a role reversal situation," he added with a snort of laughter. "I mean, how many times, when you were in college, did you spend the weekend studying for some test or other, huh?" he asked.

"Hundreds," Quinn replied and smiled as she snuggled down even more. "You could read the stuff out to me, I know you take it in better when you read it out rather than if you read it to yourself, maybe read it out to me and I'll help you study?" she offered.

Puck grinned as he shuffled a little lower in his bed, he picked up the thick document. "This is so not the same as phone sex," he grumbled, but he couldn't help laughing too. "Thanks," he whispered, he was grateful, he knew he'd felt slightly daunted at the sheer volume of information, and Quinn was right, he did take it in better if he read it out loud. "Ok, here we go," he sighed and then started reading the first page. Two hours later Puck ended the call and sent a text message to Quinn, who had fallen asleep during the call. *_Thanks for being my study buddy, love you xxx* _

* * *

><p>Quinn grinned at the text message on her phone when she woke up with it still in her hand. *<em>Any time fly boy, love you too xxx* <em>she replied. She stretched and contemplated the weekend ahead, all the free time to just wallow in the misery of missing Puck. Quinn had grown quite used to Puck being around all of the time, ever since she had graduated from college, since she had returned to Ohio and they'd bought the house together, she hadn't been without him. All the years of being separated by college, by deployment, by distance, they'd all disappeared and now suddenly, Puck was in a completely different state and she missed him, missed him like she'd never thought possible. "Hormones," she grumbled to herself and turned over to hug Puck's pillow. "Wow," she said as she realised something. "I don't feel sick," she said and then cautiously sat up in bed. "Really, I don't feel sick at all," she marvelled. "Oh, how cool," she sighed happily. "Thank you, baby," she murmured towards her tummy, she ran her hand over the tiny little curve. "Hey, look at you," she murmured and rushed to the mirror. Quinn stood sideways on and looked at her profile. "Oh," she whispered at the definite, pronounced bump. "There you are," she murmured and stroked her hand over the area as her eyes filled with tears. Quinn ran back to the bed to pick up her phone. "Selfie time," she sang out loud and got herself in position to take a picture to send to Puck. *_Hey Big Daddy, look at this xxx* _she added to the picture that she sent to Puck's phone. "You know what, baby?" she asked her stomach. "I think we might take a picture like that every Saturday until you're here, map your progress, right?" Quinn grinned at herself in the mirror. "Like anyone is going to answer me," she mocked and then blew herself a kiss.

* * *

><p>"I am so happy to see you," Quinn cried when she opened the door to Shelby and Beth on Saturday afternoon. "Come in, come in," she urged and stepped out of the way. "It has been a long, long week," she exclaimed dramatically to Shelby. "Puck has called every day, twice a day, actually, but it hasn't made the time pass any quicker," she pouted. "But I am so glad to see you both," she cried again and hugged Beth close.<p>

"My momma said we can stay overnight if you want," Beth announced and gave Quinn such a fabulous grin.

Quinn almost burst into tears she was so happy. "I didn't actually say that," Shelby assured Quinn, she didn't want to put her on the spot like that. "What I said was that we could find a motel or something and stay over in Fairborn," she explained.

"No, please, stay here, with me, you're more than welcome," Quinn almost begged. "We have the guest room set up with twin beds," she explained and headed in that direction. "Please, I would love it if you would consider staying here with me," she said so very quietly, sincerely.

"Alright," Shelby answered with a tight smile. She didn't show it, but Shelby was a little wary.

* * *

><p>All through the afternoon, Beth humoured Quinn, allowed her to play, get to know her, and in truth, she loved the attention. Throughout the play, the two chatted and chatted, but Shelby knew that Beth was building up to the biggie, the question that she had been bugging her with since Puck and Quinn's wedding. "Quinn?" Beth asked, seemingly quite nonchalantly.<p>

"Yes?" Quinn responded when nothing more seemed forthcoming.

"When your baby comes, can I come and see it?" Beth asked in a rush, her eyes were excited, shining balls of green.

"Of course," Quinn replied wholeheartedly and looked at Shelby for her approval. "You know that, even though your mom adopted you, this baby will still be your brother or sister, right?" she asked Beth.

"Does that mean me and momma get to take it home with us?" Beth asked, her excitement was growing at the thought.

"No, this baby will live here, with me and Puck, but you will still be it's big sister," Quinn explained.

Beth's excitement dimmed a little and she was thoughtful for a while. "Does that mean that you love this new baby more than you loved me?" she asked with a frown and a tell-tale quiver in her voice.

"Oh, sweetie, no, of course not," Quinn replied immediately and surged forward to hug Beth close. "No, absolutely not, I don't think it's possible to love anyone more than I love you," she sniffed as the tears appeared once again. "We'll love this new baby as much as we love you, but it could never be more than we love you," she insisted. Shelby was satisfied, that was the thing that she knew was troubling Beth the most and Quinn had answered it just right. The rest of the day passed in a blur for Quinn.

* * *

><p>"Hey, baby," Puck murmured into his phone when Quinn answered his call.<p>

"Hey," Quinn responded shyly, she was ultra-aware of Shelby across the room and Beth on the floor playing with some of the toys that she'd brought with her.

"How have you been today?" Puck asked.

"Good, I wasn't sick today," Quinn replied, but there was no way that she was going to tell him that she had finally heeded his advice and forgone spraying her perfume all over herself this morning. "Did you get the pictures I sent?" she asked.

"I did, they're great, thanks," Puck answered. "Is Beth still there?" he asked.

"Yes, do you want to talk to her?" Quinn asked and walked over to Beth with the phone held out. "It's Puck, he wants to say hello," she explained. Beth took the phone at once.

"Hi," Beth said with a grin into the phone. "I'm sleeping here at your house," she told Puck before he could utter a word. "And when my new baby brother comes I'm coming to stay and see it too," she added excitedly.

"That's cool," Puck responded, he felt a surge of happiness encompass his entire body, he didn't think he could even imagine the joy of seeing Beth and the new baby together, it was just too much, so much more than he'd ever dreamed was possible. "Are you having fun?" he asked.

"Yes, I bringed some toys with me but momma Quinn taked me to the toy store and we bought some to leave here," Beth informed Puck and then hunkered down to rearrange a few of the cars in the multistory parking garage that she'd chosen from Toys R Us. "Yep and my momma says I can come and stay here with you once a...was it once a month?" she added and asked the question of Shelby, Beth had forgotten the details that Quinn and her momma had been discussing when they stopped for milk shakes.

"The last weekend of every month," Shelby clarified, loud enough for Puck to hear.

"The last weekend of every month," Beth repeated with a firm nod. "I'm coming to stay here, without my momma, just with you and momma Quinn, can I call you daddy?" she asked.

"Sure," Puck agreed, his voice was a little trembly, he felt excited, he felt emotional, he wondered how Quinn was dealing with all of this.

"Cool," Beth sighed and then passed the phone back, engrossed once again with the toy trucks that she could slide into an elevator and then move to different levels.

"Hey," Quinn murmured and then whispered to Shelby that she was taking the call in the kitchen. "How cool is that?" she asked Puck quietly, excitedly.

"Very cool," Puck replied, he couldn't stop smiling. This was going to be so much better than anything he had imagined, he'd sort of hoped that they could come to an arrangement and maybe spend time together a couple of times a year, get together for the holidays or something, birthdays, but this, every month, this was like a dream come true. "How are you holding up?" he asked, concerned about Quinn's welfare as always.

"I'm more than fine," Quinn sighed. "We've worked out the details of how we'll do the visits, Shelby will bring Beth on the last Friday of the month and collect her on the Sunday evening, she's happy to do all the travelling because she says that once this baby gets here it'll be harder for me, especially if you have to be away on deployment or training or something," she explained. "It's everything I could ever wish for," she added, just before her voice broke.

The whole weekend was everything that Quinn could have hoped for. Puck connected to them on Skype and chatted face to face, he laughed at Beth's performance, she was such a little diva, she was hilarious and she knew it. He talked privately with Quinn in their bedroom and they fell into the remote sex play that they'd indulged in when he was deployed overseas, when there was no hope of actually touching each other for months and they both loved it, Puck couldn't wait to be home. "I'll see you next Saturday," he whispered and trailed his finger down her face on his screen.

"I'll be waiting for you," Quinn promised. "Right here, on this bed," she added, her voice sexy, full of love, of lust. "I'll be waiting here, wearing something special, come and find me," she whispered, then ended the call abruptly. Puck groaned at the images that flooded his mind, he could picture her in some of the raunchiest, sexiest underwear that Victoria's Secret had ever created. Puck's imagination was incredibly fertile.

* * *

><p>"Daddy's coming home today," Quinn murmured to her tummy before she got out of bed on the following Saturday morning. "But first, mommy has to go and get totally beautified," she added then jumped out of bed and headed for the shower. Quinn danced as she scrubbed her body, sang as she washed her hair, she was just so restless, desperate to see Puck, actually see him, touch him. "I'm addicted to you, don't you know that you're toxic?" she sang, her eyes were closed so that she didn't get shampoo in them.<p>

"I didn't think I was that bad," Puck answered, Quinn opened her eyes, shocked at the sound of his voice, she squealed and launched herself at him, completely disregarding the fact that he was dressed in his uniform and she was naked, soaking wet and naked. "Hey," he murmured into her neck. "Oh, God," he sighed just before their lips connected. Even while kissing they both fought to free him of his clothes, they dropped each discarded item on the bathroom floor with complete abandon. "I have missed you," he sighed as he stepped into the shower with Quinn. "Oh, baby, I missed you so much," he groaned.

"I missed you too," Quinn groaned between kisses, "ohhhh," she sighed as he thrust inside her, exactly where they both needed him to be, exactly how they both needed this. There were no words, for a long time, there were no words, there were sighs, there were moans, groans, but there were no words, they didn't need them.

* * *

><p>"Do we really have to get out of bed?" Quinn pouted as Puck stood up beside the bed.<p>

"We really do, I'm starved," Puck grumbled. "I didn't even get breakfast this morning, I took off before the kitchen was even open," he said. Truth was, he'd been so desperate to see Quinn that the instant the COs had released the group from their training session, Puck had submitted his flight plans, gone through all of the relevant checks and waited to be given his take off slot. He'd waited over four hours for his revised take off slot because of an incoming dignitary, they had priority but there had been delays, which Puck was used to, being a pilot and all, so he waited patiently, and the second the control tower said he could go, he was in the air and heading for Wright-Patterson.

"How was the training?" Quinn asked as she stretched, luxuriating in the sheer sensations that trembled across her skin.

"It was pretty cool," Puck replied as he snagged a pair of sweats from his drawer and pulled them on. "We were supposed to be in the classroom this morning for a final debrief, but they held it last night instead and then told us we were free to go, so I submitted my plans, and just waited at the airfield till they told me I could take off and here I am," he grinned and sat back down on the bed.

"I'm glad you're home," Quinn sighed, she felt so contented, so happy. It took a while longer until they actually made it downstairs and into the kitchen. "What would you like to eat?" she asked and busied herself at the fridge, checking out what was in there. "Besides fresh air and cottage cheese?" she muttered and slammed the door closed. "We have to go grocery shopping," she admitted.

"Well, let's go out for brunch, we'll do the grocery shopping and then head over to Lima to see everyone and then come home for a relaxing evening doing absolutely nothing, how does that sound?" Puck suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Quinn agreed happily. "It also means that either my mom or yours will make dinner for us," she added, even though she was sure that Puck had kind of banked on that. "So you still hate my cooking?" she asked with her eyebrow raised a little.

Puck slipped his arms around her and drew her close to his body. "It's not that I hate your cooking," he denied skillfully, "I just think we should keep our kitchen looking this good and take advantage of the fact that both of our mothers love cooking," he added with a shrug and a barely held in smile.

"Mhm?" Quinn murmured, her eyebrow rose a touch higher.

"Truth?" Puck dared to ask, Quinn nodded. "Truth is, I love you, you're beautiful, you're amazing, you make my world spin, but your culinary skills are the pits," he sighed and waited for some sort of backlash.

"I know," Quinn sighed with a pout. "Maybe I ought to enroll in a class or something, I need to do something otherwise this poor child will think that everyone eats out all the time, it'll think that the kitchen is just a place to keep milk and coffee," she grumbled. There was no way she could get mad at Puck, she knew she couldn't cook worth a damn, she remembered back to the time she'd tried to bake cupcakes for glee club. Even then Puck's skills had been far better than hers. "You could always take care of the cooking you know?" she suggested.

"I could," Puck agreed, "but do we really want to eat pasta every day?" he asked, he knew his repertoire was limited. "Maybe we should both enroll in a class, learn together," he suggested.

"That sounds good, I'll look into it," Quinn agreed with a much brighter smile. "So, let's go out, we'll head to Lima first, see everyone, do the grocery shopping on the way back and if neither your mom nor mine have taken pity on us and they haven't sent us home with a week's worth of dinners to put in the freezer, we'll stop off for dinner before we do the shopping, how does that sound?"

"Like a plan," Puck answered. They headed upstairs to get dressed properly and then headed for home. "Hey mom," Puck called as he walked into the house just ahead of Quinn.

"Noah, Quinn," Lydia cried happily as she came through from the kitchen. "I didn't expect to see you today," she added as she hugged Quinn and then checked out the slight expansion of her tummy. "That looks so cute," she cried and stroked her hand across the bump.

"I know, I didn't expect it to be this soon," Quinn agreed and looked down at the little mound.

"It usually is a little sooner with the second," Lydia announced and then turned and hurried back to the kitchen. "I'm making a beef stew," she said over her shoulder. "Do you want to stay for dinner?" she asked.

"We could be persuaded," Puck answered and grinned at Quinn. "Actually, we're both looking at enrolling in a class or something, neither of us is very good in the kitchen, I mean, I'm ok with a basic spaghetti, but we don't want the poor kid to think that's the only thing that people cook, you know?" he said and sat down at the table.

"How about I come over on Saturdays for a while and give you some instruction?" Lydia offered. "I'm sure that Judy would do the same," she said, looking at Quinn.

"She probably would," Quin agreed. "I think that's a good idea," she said when she thought about it, she wouldn't feel quite so inadequate if it was their moms teaching them.

"All right, maybe we'll split the Saturdays between us," Lydia murmured thoughtfully as she continued with her task. Quin watched, took note, learned nothing, but enjoyed the meal anyway.

* * *

><p>"Hi," Puck cried as he opened the door on Friday afternoon. "Are you ready to shoot off with us?" he asked, checking with Shelby. "You're invited too if you want to come along, we're going to see the baby doctor, we get to see a picture of your brother or sister today," he told Beth and again included Shelby.<p>

"Actually, do you mind if I just drop Beth with you?" Shelby asked, she glanced at Quinn for the understanding, she really didn't want to intrude.

"That's fine, is there anything we need to know?" Quinn responded. "What time is bed time?" she asked Shelby though she looked at Beth. Beth pulled a face when Shelby told them that Beth had to be in bed by nine otherwise she would be a cranky little miss on Saturday.

"Can't I stay up a little longer?" Beth pleaded with her mom and hugged her arms tight around Puck's neck. "This will be the first time I've ever, ever slept here with my daddy and my momma Quinn together," she pouted, giving Shelby her tried and tested puppy dog eyes. Beth fluttered her lashes at her mom. "Please?" she begged.

"Nine thirty, tops," Shelby relented, she struggled to resist those beautiful green eyes and Beth knew it. "She really will be hateful on Saturday if she doesn't have enough sleep," she assured Quinn quietly. "So is everything ok? You're all set for the weekend? You're sure you want to do this?" she asked, she was trying desperately to find a way to change her mind, but she knew she couldn't deny Beth the chance to establish a relationship with her birth parents before the birth of her sibling so that she wouldn't feel quite so edged out.

"We're more than sure," Quinn replied and smiled gratefully. "But I understand if this is too hard for you, you're welcome to stay too," she offered.

"No, I'm going to be strong, I'm flying off to New York, I'm going to spend the weekend with Rachel," Shelby explained, she was determined to spend more time with her other daughter than she had previously. "We're going to take in a show, we're going to have dinner at Masa, I have no idea who Rachel had to bribe to get a reservation there," she exclaimed, "I'm not really sure I want to know, but apparently it is _the _Japanese experience to have. I'm really looking forward to it," she said and looked quite surprised herself when she realised that it was true. "Ok, so, I'm going," she announced as she checked her watch. "I'll see you on Sunday, ok? Bye, sweetie, be good for Puck and Quinn, alright? Take care," she called as she side stepped out of the house and hurried down the path to her car. "Bye," she called again before she drove away. Quinn was quite sure that Shelby would have to stop around the corner so that she could give way to all that nervous emotion that she had struggled to contain. She was bang on right.

* * *

><p>"Quinn Puckerman," the receptionist called. "Please go through," she requested and nodded when Puck asked if he and Beth could go too. "The technician will be with you in a moment, please just take a seat," she advised.<p>

"Thanks," Quinn said huskily and smiled nervously at the woman. Here they were, about to see the baby for the first time. At least the nurse had given an approving nod when she had noted Quinn's blood pressure and slight weight gain. "What do you think the baby will be doing?" she asked Beth, trying to keep her involved. "I remember seeing you sucking your thumb when we came to the doctor one time," she told the little girl who giggled.

"I think we have a picture of that," Puck added, he was sure he still had a copy of that ultrasound picture somewhere in a shoe box of memories in the bedroom closet at his mom's house.

"What else did I do?" Beth asked curiously, this was probably the sort of stuff that all of her friends just knew, she was the only adopted person in her class, probably in her school, she was the only one that she knew.

"Well, when you were getting really big you used to get the hiccups and when Quinn laid down on her back, her whole body used to shake because of you with the hiccups, it was really funny," Puck remembered with a grin. "And when she was in the bath tub, you used to jiggle around, you must have liked the warm water or something," he added and then thought for a moment. "Do you remember the night that she just flip-flopped around in your stomach all night and kept us both awake?" he asked Quinn.

"Yeah," Quinn grinned, "I remember," she nodded and then took Beth's hand. "I remember every single second, from the very first moment I knew about you, right up until the second that you were born, every single moment is stored away in my brain, I remember everything and I won't ever forget," she told her earnestly. "And I don't ever want to forget," she promised. Beth smiled happily, she sort of understood, without being told, that she wasn't being replaced, this new baby wasn't a substitute, it was an addition.

"Hi there," a bright voice came from the doorway. "Mr and Mrs Puckerman?" she asked.

"That's us," Puck replied and stood to shake the woman's hand.

"My name is Mona and I'm the technician on duty today," the woman introduced herself. "So, we're all ready to see Baby Puckerman?" Mona quizzed as she got her equipment ready to scan Quinn's tummy. "Alrighty then, if you could hop up here, just pull your shirt up, can I push your skirt down a touch? Thank you," she said as Quinn nodded. "Alrighty, here we are," she tucked some paper towels under the edge of the skirt. "This is going to be a little chilly," she reminded Quinn. Quinn sucked in a breath as the cold, blue gel landed with a splat on her stomach. "I'll just take a few measurements first," the woman murmured as she got to work. "Looking good," she said and winked at Beth. "Do you think you want a baby brother or a baby sister?" she asked Beth.

"A brother," Beth replied quite seriously. "No, a sister," she said hurriedly when she changed her mind. "Can we have both?" she asked Puck and Quinn, she really couldn't decide if a girl or a boy would be better. "Can we have a dog too?" she cried with excitement.

"Maybe, but not just yet," Puck laughed. "Let's just take this one step at a time, right?" he suggested and lifted Beth so that she was sat on his knee. "Can you tell what it is yet?" he asked Mona.

"It is possible, from certain angles, to see if it's a boy or a girl," Mona confirmed and glanced back at the screen. "It's not always possible to say with a hundred percent certainty, sometimes things might be obscured," she added mysteriously. "But in this case, yes we can see," she added with a bright smile. "Would you like to know?" she asked.

Quinn glanced at Puck and Beth, she bit her lip nervously. "Do we?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yes," Beth cried, she could barely wait.

"Yes," Puck replied, just as excited.

"Yes," Quinn confirmed with Mona, "yes, we want to know," she sighed and then gulped.

"Please say welcome to your new baby..." Mona said, drawing out the tension as she turned the screen around to face them, "...girl," she announced.

"Wow," Puck sighed, he didn't think he could even blink, he didn't want to miss a second of her on screen.

"Cool," Beth breathed as she watched her tiny sister change position.

Quinn couldn't say a word, she sucked back a sob, wiped a tear from her eye and just stared, she was overwhelmed with emotion. "Beautiful," she whispered when she was a little more under control. "And everything is ok?" she suddenly begged Mona.

"Everything looks exactly right in there," Mona assured her. "Dr Reid will be with you in a moment," she said and got up to leave the family in the room. "I'll be back in a moment with your DVD and pictures," she told them.

Dr Reid joined them a few moments later. He checked over the results of the scan. "Perfect, everything is exactly right for dates, baby is doing fine," he said with a smile. "And how is mommy doing?" he asked. "Still troubled with the morning sickness or has that eased?"

"That seems to have disappeared over the last few weeks," Quinn replied. "I wanted to ask something," she said nervously. "When I was pregnant with Beth, I didn't seem to develop a noticeable bump until at least the sixteenth or seventeenth week."

"Second time moms usually see a difference sooner," Dr Reid answered with a grin, it was a common question, he heard it all the time. "And you'll probably feel the baby move sooner than you did before, too."

"The baby is definitely a girl?" Puck asked. "I mean, the sonographer said she was, but to be honest, I'm just looking at a grey splodge," he muttered a little embarrassed.

"This is definitely another little girl," Dr Reid confirmed. "See here?" he asked. Puck nodded. "I don't see any external bits, do you?" Dr Reid asked. Puck shook his head and then rolled his eyes, he got it. Dr Reid grinned. The rest of the appointment went very well, Dr Reid was pleased with Quinn's progress. "So I will see you again in four weeks," he said before they left the office. "Bye, Beth," he added and waved at the little girl, Beth waved back.

* * *

><p>"I bet my momma won't even ask if I went to bed on time," Beth sighed as she swirled around in the tub, the bubbles grew and grew.<p>

"I bet your momma will ask," Quinn replied with a giggle. "And once you're finished in the bath, we're going to get our pjs on, we're going to snuggle down on the couch and watch some great movies," she reminded the little girl. "Which is your favourite?" she asked. "I love Frozen, I love Tangled and I love Brave, and The Croods, that one always makes me laugh, which ones are your favourites?"

"Frozen is my favourite too," Beth cried. "Me and my momma sing the songs from that, my momma sings Let It Go just like it sounds in the movie. I love Annie, too, I love to watch Annie," she sighed. "I'm wrinkled, I'm done," she announced and held up her hands for Quinn to see her fingertips.

Puck waited downstairs, he'd already changed into sweats and a t-shirt, he'd made popcorn and had a handful of DVDs at the ready. "Hey, baby, are you ready for movie night?" he asked as Beth bounded down the last few stairs, her damp hair flying behind her. "Cute jammies," he grinned at the copy of the cheerios uniform, very similar to the one that Kurt had worn during his brief career as a cheer leader.

"Yeah, Rachel gived them to me," Beth said as she looked down at the red and white pjs. "She said that momma Quinn was a cheerio, that's why she bought them for me," she added and then looked up into Puck's smiling face.

"She was, here, come and see this picture," Puck said, he decided that movies could wait, an evening looking through old photo albums could be a lot more fun.

Quinn found Puck and Beth sat together, his feet on the cushioned foot-stool, Beth's dangling off the edge of the sofa, both of them looking through photo albums and old year books. "Oh my God," Quinn cried when she saw the picture that Beth was studying.

"Who's that?" Beth asked, pointing at Finn who was stood beside Quinn in the 2009 Glee Club picture. "You look funny with your hair like that, daddy," she giggled when she realised that Puck was at the other side of the group. "You don't have your cheerios uniform on," she pointed out to Quinn.

"No, but see here, in this older one," Quinn agreed and showed Beth the year book from 2008. "See? That's me, in my uniform. And look at daddy, he was on the football team too, doesn't he look handsome?" she asked.

"He looks funny with his hair like a stripe," Beth announced and gave Puck a look of disdain.

"Yeah, well," Puck sighed as he remembered his nana Beth's comment the first time she saw him with his mohawk, "it seemed like a good idea at the time and momma Quinn like it," he added with a wink at Quinn. Quinn couldn't deny it, she did, she loved the 'hawk. "No matter, what are we watching?" he asked.

"FROZEN," Beth shouted. "I like to sing along to it," she informed Puck.

* * *

><p>"That was the best day, ever," Puck sighed as he snuggled up behind Quinn once they got to bed.<p>

"Tomorrow could be even better," Quinn murmured tiredly. "We're driving to Lima tomorrow don't forget, your mom and my mom can't wait to see Beth and Shelby approves too," she said through her yawn. "I'm really tired."

"It's cool," Puck murmured and wrapped his arms even tighter around Quinn. "I love to fall asleep with my hand here," he whispered, even though he knew that Quinn was almost asleep. His hand covered the tiny bump of her tummy, cradled where the baby lay inside her. "I always loved it when it was Beth here inside you, I love it now, too," he murmured and then kissed the hair above her ear, Quinn was already asleep.

* * *

><p>"Momma Quinn, daddy, are you awake?" Beth hissed loudly. Puck started and turned over, blinking tiredly as he tried to open his eyes. "Is it time to get up yet?" she asked and lifted Puck's eyelid to make sure he was awake.<p>

"S'up?" Puck asked, he glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Puck yawned and stretched, he needed to focus his mind, properly waken up and find out why the hell Beth had woken him at four in the morning.

"I'm not sleepy any more," Beth announced brightly, and sure enough, she looked incredibly wide awake.

"It's too early to get up yet though," Puck replied.

"Momma lets me climb in with her if I wake up too soon," Beth informed Puck, and waited for him to take the hint.

"Climb in," Puck sighed, he was too tired to care if he'd just been played or not. Beth grinned and climbed over Puck to get into the middle. It was decision that Puck regretted a couple of hours later when Beth's feet were in the middle of his back and he was gripped onto the edge of the mattress to stop himself from falling out of bed. Quinn slept on, apparently untroubled by the restless little girl who took up more room than Puck and Quinn did together.

* * *

><p>"Nana Lydia," Beth yelled as soon as Puck opened the door. Beth ran in ahead of him and found Lydia in the lounge. "Hi," she cried and dove in for a hug. Beth had loved getting to know her relatives, her nana and her grandma especially, they behaved exactly like the grandmas in her story books behaved, they spoiled her rotten.<p>

"Hello, sweetie," Lydia replied and laid her book down on the side table. "Jenna," she called. "Look who's here."

"Hi, Beth," Jenna said when she came into the room. "Hello," she added to Quinn when Quinn hugged her. "Did you bring the pictures?" she asked excitedly.

"We did, and a DVD too," Quinn answered with a grin. "Here you go," she said and handed the disc to Jenna. "I'm just going to call my mom, she wanted to come over and see the DVD too, is that ok?" she asked Lydia.

"Of course," Lydia replied then hurried to the kitchen to start making snacks and stuff.

* * *

><p>"Oh, she is so gorgeous," Lydia and Judy sighed together. Beth sat on the sofa between her two grandmas. "Just like you, sweetie," Judy added and kissed the top of Beth's head.<p>

"Hey, look what I found," Puck announced when he returned to the lounge from a quick trip upstairs. "Let's watch these DVDs too," he said with a wink at Quinn.

"Ohh," Beth sighed as the picture on screen displayed another grey, grainy image, one of a baby sucking it's thumb. "Hey, that's me, right?" she suddenly cried.

"Yep, it's you," Puck confirmed. "See that?" he asked, his finger tracing a line around Beth's tiny head on the TV.

"No, what?" Beth demanded and surged forwards to kneel on the floor beside Puck.

"That, there, see it?" Puck repeated. "When you were born you had your own little mohawk going on," he teased.

"Did I?" Beth asked Quinn, she was totally awestruck.

"A little bit," Quinn agreed with a grin, she remembered the day that Puck had joked about the baby coming out with a mohawk, not that they'd ever thought it - she - would, but it had tickled them both that she had. "A little blonde stripe of hair down your head, it was so sweet," she added. "Where are the pictures?" she asked Puck.

"Right here," Puck answered and picked up the shoe box. "Come here," he said to Beth, "come and see these." Beth ran back to Puck and crashed down beside him to look at the pictures of herself. "See here?" he asked, and pointed to the cute little tuft of hair that was sticking up on the baby's head.

"That's not me," Beth exclaimed excitedly.

"Sure it is," Puck claimed and called to Quinn for her to confirm it.

"No, that's not Beth," Lydia cried when the picture landed in her hands, "that's Jenna, no wait, that's you, Noah, that's you when you were born, look, in the corner, there's grandpa Ira," she pointed out. That made it pretty much conclusive, Puck's grandpa Ira had died before Jenna was born so the only baby it could be was Puck.

Quinn loved every second of the whole family feeling she got during the visit. The fabulous meal didn't hurt either, but the best part was the totally natural way that Beth interacted with everyone, she just fit right in, like she'd been there her whole life. And Quinn so wished that she had been.

* * *

><p>"Hi," Shelby cried happily when Puck and Beth opened the door to her on Sunday evening. Immediately Beth launched into a full blown run down of the weekend, she barely drew breath. "Slow down, slow down," Shelby urged with a laugh as she crouched to put herself just below eye level with Beth. "So you had a good time?" she concluded, Beth nodded enthusiastically. "Well that's great, and you'll be coming back in a month, right?" she said and glanced to Quinn to see her nod.<p>

"We've had a wonderful time," Quinn said quietly. "Yesterday we visited Lima and had dinner with the grandmas," she explained, "we found pictures of Puck when he was just a few days old, complete with blond mohawk, no less," she giggled, Beth joined in.

"And Jenna showed me pictures of his Bar Mitz...mitz...what is it called again?" Beth asked, looking at Puck.

"Bar Mitzvah," Puck supplied, and hoped to God that neither Beth nor Quinn had confiscated any of the horrific pictures from that event. "Oh, crap," he sighed when Beth pulled one out of her overnight bag.

"Nana Lydia gived me this to keep," Beth announced with pride. "And grandma Judy is going to find one of momma Quinn at her confir...confirmistation," she said, struggling with yet another unfamiliar word.

"Confirmation," Quinn supplied, giggling even more at the cute way Beth mixed up the word.

"Well, we better get going," Shelby announced as she stood and picked up Beth's bag. "Thanks again and we'll see you in a month," she added.

"Here, let me take that," Puck said and lifted the bag from Shelby's hand. Puck and Quinn walked to Shelby's car with them, saw Beth fastened safely into the seat that matched the one that Puck had installed in his truck. "Drive safely," he called as they waved to the retreating car. "It's been a really good weekend, right?" he whispered as his arm drew Quinn closer, they both still watched the car as it got smaller and smaller in the distance.

"The best," Quinn sighed happily. They went to bed exhausted.

* * *

><p>"Ms Puckerman?" Connor called from near the back of the class.<p>

"Yes, Connor?" Quinn replied and made a conscious effort to gather her thoughts, to concentrate on whatever the boy was about to say.

"Ms Puckerman, we were talking," Connor began and indicated himself and a few of his friends, "and we have a kind of a bet going," he paused for a moment.

"What about?" Quinn asked, although she wasn't sure that she really wanted to know, in fact, she thought it might be better if she didn't know.

"Well, see, I kind of think that you're pregnant and Rob here kind of thinks you're just getting fat," Connor stated rather cheekily, impudently, and then stared at Quinn to see if she blushed.

Quinn returned the stare without any outward sign of her internal discomfort. "Actually," she began and then spotted someone at the door.

"Actually, it's _Mrs _Puckerman, not Ms and yes, she is pregnant," Puck announced as he walked into the classroom. "Do you have a problem with that?" he asked Connor. "And your name is?" he demanded.

"Connor Windle, sir," Connor replied, immediately respectful of the man in uniform.

"Staff Sargeant Brian Windle's boy?" Puck queried, Connor nodded. Puck didn't need to say anything else, he knew that Quinn wouldn't have any trouble from this guy at all. "Can I see you for a moment?" he whispered and motioned to the hallway.

"Class, I am trusting you all to study quietly," Quinn announced, and then followed Puck. "What's up?" she asked.

"I'm heading to Germany this afternoon," Puck sighed as he stroked her shoulders. "I have to take some equipment over, pick up some stuff to bring back, you know, it's just a shift around of resources," he explained. Quinn knew that it was part of Puck's job to do that, but usually it was redistributing stuff among the various bases across the country, it wasn't usually a trip to Europe. "So, I'll see you in a couple of days, alright?" he murmured and then drew her close, he glanced around to check that the coast was clear and then kissed her soundly before leaving.

"That your husband, Mrs Puckerman?" Connor asked as soon as Quinn returned to her class.

"Yes," Quinn managed to answer in a steady voice, though she had no idea how. Connor sat thoughtfully for a second or two. Mrs P was ok, she wouldn't have to worry about any of her students messing her about, Connor would see to that, he'd give them all the heads up, anyone who was married into the airforce was alright in his book.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.**

**A/N: I hate it when you have to leave me, but I love you even more when you come back...**

"Hey, baby," Puck murmured, aware of possible listening ears in the lounge where he was relaxing after the long flight. "How are you?" he asked.

"I'm ok," Quinn replied with a slight hitch in her voice, she was really trying hard not to cry. "Did you have a good flight?" she asked.

"Yes, it was long, but it was good," Puck replied and then grinned. "You should know that already, I'm always long and I'm always good," he murmured with a sleazy grin.

Quinn rolled over onto her back and giggled, her spirits lifted, she was glad he'd woken her, even though it was a little earlier than she'd usually wake up in the morning. "Where are you right now?" she asked, her voice was husky, rather sultry, she wished he was right here beside her instead of thousands of miles away, in Ramstein, in Germany.

Puck glanced around. "I'm in a room with about ten other guys, they're watching something crap on TV, why?" he asked her, although he knew, he knew straight away why she was asking.

"I'm naked. I'm laid in our bed, I'm naked and I'm touching myself," Quinn moaned and ran her hand down her body. "Face time?" she offered and moaned even louder when her fingers brushed the sensitive skin between her thighs.

"Shit," Puck sighed, and then willed his flesh to subside so that he could stand up without the danger of taking someone's eye out with his massive boner. "I'm out the door," he whispered as he moved swiftly along the corridor to his assigned bedroom. He cursed himself when Quinn continued to moan and sigh, to make those sounds that he loved so much, the ones she made when he was thrusting deep inside her. "I knew I should have called you from my room," he groaned as he slammed his door shut. "Face time, quick, show me, show me baby, please," he begged. "Oh, God," he sighed happily the second they connected via the video link. "Do that again," he urged. "Jeez, Quinn, baby, oh God, I haven't even...shit," he groaned, he wasn't sure he was even going to need to use his own hand, the visual of Quinn might be enough, her boobs looked awesome from that angle and as for the rest, well, her skin just glowed, she was on fire. Puck watched in fascination as his wife writhed around on their bed, watched as she pleasured herself for his viewing pleasure - and for her own personal delight. "Baby, you're awesome," he whispered, although he was certain that Quinn was too deep into her own pleasure bubble to even hear him.

Quinn paused for a second, she stared deep into Puck's eyes via the camera. "I want you so bad," she sighed. "When will you be home?" she pouted.

"Day after tomorrow," Puck replied with a sigh. "Show me again, do it for me again," he begged and then almost cried when Quinn demonstrated one more time, how much she could do for herself when he wasn't around. "Fuck, you are so awesome," he whispered, to himself rather than to her, when he watched her come apart in real time as he stroked his own body to satisfaction.

* * *

><p>"Ok, so we ran into a little problem," Puck sighed when he called Quinn two days later.<p>

"A little problem as in you're in the air and you're being diverted to another airfield and then you'll grab a hire car, drive home and I'll see you in a couple of hours when I get home from work?" Quinn suggested brightly, determinedly.

"A little problem as in we had to divert to London Heathrow for an emergency landing and now we're stuck waiting for a part," Puck admitted and sighed even harder, he heard the telltale sniff and the sucked in breath. "Now, before you start panicking, we weren't in any danger," Puck insisted quietly, aware of other men around him. "We're holed up in a hotel just near Terminal 3 until the plane is fixed," he informed her, "but apart from that, how are you doing?" he asked with a grin and hoped he'd distracted her enough to forget that they'd had a problem while in the air. "Thanks, buddy," he whispered as one of the crew passed him a pint glass with coke and lots of ice. "No, sorry, just saying thanks to Rick for passing me a drink. Nope, soda, flying tomorrow, you know I never drink anything alcoholic if I'm flying the next day."

"I wish you were home already," Quinn pouted with a distinct tear in her eye, the sound of it echoed in her voice. "On the plus side, ever since you came into my class the other day, Connor Windle has been the perfect student, and he seems to have influenced some of the others, the jocks anyway, to play nice and not be asses in my class," she told Puck.

"Cool," Puck responded, he was pleased about that. He'd also wondered if Quinn had noticed the electricity that had been sparking between Connor and the girl they'd seen outside the medical center. Puck sure had and he thought a quiet word might be in order, despite the girl's dismissive comment about not getting knocked up at her age, Puck knew all too well that accidents can - and often do - happen.

"I have to go, I have a meeting with one of my students," Quinn said with reluctance. "Face time later?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure, text me when you're home, I'll link up," Puck replied. "Love you," he added just before he ended the call. "What?" he asked when he noted the amused glances from his colleagues. "She's pregnant, she gets emotional, she needs to hear it all the time and anyway, fuck you, I do love my wife," he grunted.

"I think we should check his purse for his man-card," Rick suggested in an exaggeratedly effeminate voice and with a huge grin plastered all over his face.

"Like you didn't tell your wife you love her about five minutes ago," one of the other crew members snickered. "Bet you anything he's on the phone to her later when he goes to bed, he'll be knocking one out while she's freakin' snoring," he laughed.

"There's a five hour time difference, asshole, so shut the fuck up," Rick growled good naturedly and shoved the guy's seat with his booted foot. "Ok, so I like to watch Carrie sleep, I wish to God I'd never told you that," he mumbled.

"JD nights are always a bad idea," Puck agreed, remembering the colossal amount of embarrassing rubbish he had admitted to during drinking games with his buddies.

"Sure are, Elvis," Rick answered, he'd perked up all of a sudden. "Ok, so, biggest loser," he suggested, to a mixture of groans. "Come on, it'll pass the time," he assured them and caught the eye of several of the crew and covertly drew their attention to Puck, who was still slightly distracted and checking out the screen on his phone, obviously still waiting for a text from Quinn. "Everyone up for it?" he asked.

"Sure," came a number of almost bored mumbles. "Fine," Puck sighed, he tucked his phone back into his pocket and gulped down his cold drink. "Might as well to pass the time, but we have to have sensible forfeits, nothing alcoholic," he insisted.

"That's cool, we'll work around that," Rick agreed. "Ok, so, you must be a loser if you ever..." he began and then paused for a second while he thought of a scenario. A couple of hours later, they were still playing the game but the suggestions had become more personal. "...went to prom and didn't have sex afterwards," Rick finished and looked around at the group. One of the guys raised his hand.

"I'm a loser," Jonno announced. "Me and my girlfriend argued on the dance floor, she went home with my best buddy and he got her pregnant," he explained with a sigh, "so a couple of months later, when I found out that the baby wasn't mine, I slept with his girl for revenge," he added. "He got a kid and I got the clap, how is that fair?" he grinned and drank his soda. All the group commiserated.

"Ok, so you must be a loser if..." Rick repeated and then thought for a second, "...you had to go to church for penance, because your mom caught you jerking off," he finished with a slight grunt of a giggle and raised his own hand, along with a few other guys.

"Does temple count?" Puck asked with a half grin and then slapped his hand over his eyes as he remembered his nana Beth coming into his bedroom to find Quinn in the middle of giving Puck a stunning hand job...naked.

"Sure does," Rick nodded.

"Ok, count me in, I'm a loser," Puck sighed. "Although it wasn't my mom, it was my nana, she just waltzed into my bedroom and caught me getting a hand job from...a girl, she didn't catch me doing it myself," he explained with a rather satisfied grin.

"Does Quinn know about this nefarious past?" Rick demanded. Puck grinned and winked but said nothing. "Ok, so you're a loser if you...shit I can't think of anything, all I can picture is his nana catching him and some chick in the act," he laughed, pointing a finger at Puck. "Did you see his nana at the wedding?" he grinned. "She looks so sweet but I bet she can sure bite, right?" he asked Puck, Puck agreed readily. "Just think what she might have done to you if she'd actually caught you doing the nasty?" Rick laughed.

"Haven't you ever been caught full on, hard at it, pants down?" Puck asked, surely he wasn't the only one unlucky enough to have his naked ass on display every time.

"Not so much, why, how many times have you been caught?" Rick questioned, he grinned at Puck and wiggled his eyebrows, aware that this could be further amunition for future drinking games.

"God, a bunch of times, I can't even count, and mostly by her dad," Puck muttered as he thought about it.

"Quinn's dad?" Rick asked, barely able to hide the laughter, Puck nodded. "Dude, there's no wonder he hates you," he said and then laughed totally out loud, he found it all very amusing.

"Why? Who hates him?" Jonno asked as he returned from the bar with more soft drinks. Jonno was a recent addition to their crew and hadn't been at the wedding.

"His father-in-law," Rick replied and broke into laughter again with a few of the others.

"Fine, I'm the biggest loser," Puck sighed and mocked himself.

"So why does he hate you?" Jonno asked, he was still curious, he thought Puck was a really nice guy, quite personable and he seemed genuine enough.

"Because he knocked Quinn up at, what? Fourteen? Fifteen?" Rick supplied, but checked the facts with Puck.

"We were sixteen," Puck corrected, "just," he muttered.

"Sixteen? And you got Quinn pregnant? _Your_ Quinn? Your wife? The one who's been pregnant for longer than you've been married? _That_ Quinn?" Jonno demanded.

"Yes, _that_ Quinn, do you even know another one?" Puck sighed and rolled his eyes. "So, we've been together a long, long time, we grew up, grew apart, grew back together and here we are, establishing a relationship with the six year old daughter we gave up for adoption, getting ready to be parents to another daughter, and loving every second of it," he explained happily. "Well, I'd love it better if we were just crossing into US airspace," he muttered with a check of his watch and a quick mental figuring of where they should be if they were still on schedule. Puck took himself off to the bathroom.

"So, anyway, we decided that you are the biggest loser and you get the forfeit," Rick announced when Puck returned to the group with yet another round of sodas for everyone, none of the guys drank alcohol when they were due to fly, but sometimes they wished they could. "You have to call Quinn and sing to her," he said, as if he'd just decided Puck's fate on a whim and hadn't discussed it with the rest of the guys, "and we're all going to listen in and sincerely take the piss out of you. Come on, Puckerman, you know you want to," he encouraged, laughing at the pained look on Puck's face.

"Ah, crap," Puck sighed almost silently, he just knew that Rick had picked that particular forfeit because he knew that Puck rarely sang anymore, despite still having an amazing voice. "You're going to rip me to shreds, aren't you?" he asked, slightly defeated, he knew there was no getting out of it, better to just suck it up. "Hey, junior, see if you can get your hands on a guitar for me," he directed, sitting up straight and looking at Jonno. Puck pulled his phone from his pocket. "Hey, baby, you just in from school?" he asked when Quinn answered the phone.

"No, I've been home about an hour," Quinn replied, she sounded a little nervous and quite despondent, Puck picked up on it straight away.

"Why didn't you text me so that I could call you? What's wrong? Quinn, is something wrong?" Puck demanded, he shot up and moved away from the others, if he was going to hear something bad, he didn't want an audience.

"Nothing," Quinn sighed, but Puck could hear the tears in her voice.

"Quinn, honey, please, just tell me, whatever it is, just tell me," Puck pleaded quietly, he had his back to the rest of the guys but they could see his tension, see it in the way he stood, his leg not quite steady, his knee jerking a little nervously, his hand thrust into his hair.

"Oh God, I feel so stupid," Quinn whispered, mostly to herself. "I tripped over a bag that had been left on the floor in my classroom," she admitted.

"And are you ok? Is the baby ok?" Puck demanded, his heart was in his mouth, stupid planes and stupid things that could go wrong with them, he silently cursed.

"Yes, we're both fine, I hurt my ankle but my mom is here taking care of me," Quinn replied, "mom, say hello to Puck," she called, holding the phone away from herself.

"Hi, Noah," Judy called from a distance.

"Cool, so you're not alone," Puck accepted and felt a flush of relief course through him, "and what happened with the ankle, is it broken?" he asked, he was still very concerned.

"No, just sprained, they didn't x-ray," Quinn assured Puck, she knew that's what he would be worrying about. "Mom has me settled on the couch with an ice pack that she keeps putting on and taking off," she explained with a pout, Puck could hear the pout and imagine the look on her face. "I was just about to call you, to let you know," she finished in a small voice.

"Good, listen, I have to sing to you, we were playing a stupid game to pass the time and I lost, alright?" Puck murmured once he was assured that Quinn was really ok. "Great, they got me a guitar from somewhere, what do you want me to sing to you?" he asked and made his way back over to the rest of the guys. "Wait a second, I'm putting you on speaker," he informed Quinn and laid the phone down on the table then took the guitar from Jonno. "Alright, say hi to the guys," he called.

"Hey, boys," Quinn called, Puck could hear the slightly sultry tone of her voice, hear the smile as she said the words, he knew exactly how she would look, knew the twinkle in her eyes and he loved it. "So what are you going to sing to me?" she asked Puck, with an even sultrier overtone.

"Whatever you want," Puck offered and then winced when he realised he'd walked straight into her trap.

"Cool," Quinn replied in an instant, her tone now brisk. "Ermm," she hummed as she pondered the question, flicked through the playlist in her mind. "I can't think of anything," she complained, "you've sung so many things to me and for me over the years but I'm blanking, I just can't think."

"Come on, Elvis, give her a song," Rick called from across the small seating area where the guys all sat, waiting out the time until their spare part was delivered and fitted to the airplane.

"Ok, Elvis, that gives me an idea," Puck muttered as he tuned the guitar. "Ready?" he asked and then laughed as he suddenly felt incredibly foolish. "I haven't sung to you in a long, long time," he reminded Quinn and they both remembered the day he sang Keep Holding On to her in the auditorium. "Ok, all set up on your laptop?" he asked, Quinn answered affirmatively. "Alrighty, log on to Skype as me, Rick will log on too and call. Cool, now I can see you, hey baby, it's been too long," he murmured again as they connected on Rick's laptop.

"It's been way too long," Quinn agreed. "Sing to me," she whispered sweetly, Puck winked at her.

"Wise men say, only fools rush in  
>But I can't help falling in love with you<br>Shall I stay?  
>Would it be a sin?<br>If I can't help falling in love with you

Like a river flows, surely to the sea  
>Darling so it goes<br>Some things are meant to be  
>Take my hand, take my whole life too<br>For I can't help falling in love with you

Like a river flows, surely to the sea  
>Darling so it goes<br>Some things are meant to be  
>Take my hand, take my whole life too<br>For I can't help falling in love with you  
>For I can't help falling in love with you," Puck sang, his sure, steady voice brought tears to Quinn's eyes, to Judy's too, and, if he'd had the balls to look around, he'd have seen that the few patrons who were still in the hotel lounge had tears in their eyes too. "Love you," he whispered, Quinn cried, laughed and nodded all at the same time, actual words were beyond her.<p>

"Not bad for a total loser," Rick whispered just behind Puck, and patted him on both shoulders. "Hi, Quinn," he called and waved at the crying woman on the screen. "Don't worry, we'll have this loser back with you by tomorrow, day after at the latest, alright?" he assured her. "How's that baby doing?" he asked.

"Fine, baby's doing fine," Quinn managed to say, though her voice was very thick and she didn't sound much like her at all. "See you soon," she whispered to Puck, he winked again and nodded at her just before the connection was cut.

"Night," Puck said tiredly and handed the guitar back to Jonno to return it to it's rightful owner. "Thanks for that," he added to the youngest member of the crew who was probably trying very hard to fit into the well established group. Puck went off to bed, he dreamed of flying home to Quinn...

* * *

><p>"Hi," Puck called the second he walked through the door. "How's the ankle?" he asked.<p>

"Fine," Quinn replied, but her nose was scrunched up like she was really pissed about something, the ankle probably. Puck looked at her with the eyebrow raised. "Seriously, everything is fine and Dr Reid saw me this morning, just to be sure, here, here's a picture, he didn't do a DVD today, but he did do the picture, look at her, look at that little nose, isn't it just so sweet?" she crooned, she loved these pictures, she was making an album, a matching one to the one that she'd made when she was expecting Beth, one that had a copy of every single ultrasound picture and DVD in. Maybe one day she would make another one, a blue one perhaps...

* * *

><p>"Mrs Puckerman?" Julia mumbled nervously from the doorway of Quinn's classroom. "Can I talk to you?" she asked when Quinn looked up.<p>

"Of course," Quinn answered immediately. "Oh, crap, I know that look," she thought as she watched the young girl slink into the room and sit down in an effort to make as little movement as possible. "So, how are you Julia?" she asked, searching the young girl's face for any sign of something not quite right.

"Not so good, actually, Mrs Puckerman," Julia replied and sighed heavily, her elbows rested on the desk, her face was in her hands.

"Is there something you want to talk about? Something I can help you with?" Quinn fished, she would try her absolute best to be able to help this young girl. "Maybe Connor should be here too?" she suggested.

"No, no, not Connor, no, he can't know about this," Julia gasped, she looked frightened almost, nervous certainly. "Oh, Mrs Puckerman, I'm...I-I'm...oh, God," she sighed tearfully, she was struggling to find the words.

"Pregnant?" Quinn whispered and covered the young girl's hand with her own, gave her some comfort. Quinn watched as the girl nodded, her lips were trembling and one solitary tear rolled down her cheek. "Oh, sweetie," she sighed. "Have you spoken to your parents?" she asked, Julia shook her head. "What about the father? Have you told him?" she inquired, again, Julia shook her head. "Have you taken a test? Seen a doctor?"

"Yes," Julia whispered. "I saw a doctor at the medical center when my sister was in her appointment, I'd made one for me too, I just didn't tell her, I can't tell her," she added vehemently. "My mom's gone, it's just me and my dad, my sister has her own family, she lives in Dayton," she explained. "I can't tell them, I can't, they'll be so disappointed in me," she sobbed, "I really thought I had a chance of getting out of here," she added, more to herself than Quinn, her voice broke as she reached the last word.

"Hey, listen to me," Quinn interrupted Julia, breaking into her wailing monologue. "Listen to me, you have to tell the father, you have to tell your family, you shouldn't be carrying this burden by yourself," she added, and she knew from experience that she was telling the absolute truth. Julia nodded against Quinn's shoulder, where she'd gathered the poor, distraught girl. "Do you know who the father is?" Quinn asked as a sudden thought struck her.

"Of course I do," Julia snapped, and looked at Quinn with disgust. "I'm not that sort of a girl, it was just the one time," she insisted. "Really, it happens, you can get pregnant the first time," she pouted and then sat back in her seat looking sulky.

"Believe me, I know," Quinn sighed, more to herself than the girl who was lost in her own misery and, thankfully, not listening to Quinn for the moment. "Julia," Quinn said to catch the girl's attention. "Julia," she repeated.

"Sorry," Julia sighed when Quinn's voice finally penetrated her brain. "I'm sorry, Mrs Puckerman, I think I just lost it for a moment," she said politely.

"You have to make a decision, Julia," Quinn advised, "but you shouldn't have to make it on your own, this does concern at least one other person," she reminded her.

"I know, I know, I know, I have to tell him," Julia sighed. "He's going to be pissed, he is going to be so pissed, but it's his fault too, I told him that pulling out wasn't the safest way."

"It truly isn't," Quinn agreed. "Would you like to bring him here? Tell him here?" she offered. Julia nodded and sniffed again. "It's up to you, I can be with you or give you some privacy, it's totally your choice," she advised, "but to tell you the truth, the sooner you get it out in the open, the sooner you can make plans, whatever those plans are, and you won't be judged, whatever you decide," she promised. Quinn wished someone had spoken to her like that when she had needed the advice, they hadn't of course, she'd had Santana crowing in her ear about being thrown off the cheerios, she had Puck in her ear insisting that she tell the truth, she had Finn in her ear promising her the world while eyeing up Rachel, but what she didn't have was an adult who could give some insight into the realities of what was happening, what could happen, what the options were and who could tell the truth about the heartbreak.

"Could we come tomorrow?" Julia asked and sniffed heavily. Quinn nodded. "See you tomorrow, Mrs Puckerman, and thanks," she whispered before she left the room.

"Oh, God, the story of my life," Quinn whispered to herself the second she was alone. Quinn sighed deeply as she gathered her belongings in readiness to go home. She worried what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

><p>"I knew it," Puck sighed as he hugged Quinn close, she was so upset and worried about Julia and the unknown male. "I think it's going to be Brian's kid, the jock," he added, Puck was fairly certain, he'd seen the spark when he'd called to see Quinn, he'd recognised it, it was like a cosmic bond, like the bond that was between him and Quinn, one he'd always known was there.<p>

"Connor Windle?" Quinn asked, Puck nodded. "Hmm, that's what I thought straight away, but now I'm not so sure, I'm wondering if it's more like our situation than I first thought."

"What, like she's dating him but did the nasty with someone else, or dating someone else and did the nasty with him?" Puck asked, Quinn gave him a disgusted look. "Sounds familiar," Puck mumbled with a hidden grin. "So is she going to bring the kid in with her tomorrow?" he asked, Quinn nodded. "Want me to meet you in your classroom after school is out?" he offered, again, Quinn nodded, she thought that a male perspective, a male presence, might just be necessary, might just be able to calm things down, especially if Connor went ape.

"Thanks," Quinn mumbled into Puck's chest, she felt comforted by his strength and warmth. Puck wrapped his arms a little tighter around her and smiled to himself. "I think I felt the baby move," she added, her voice tinged with awe. Quinn leaned back and laid her hand on her tummy. "I can, I can feel it," she sighed with happy tears flooding her eyes. "Not on the outside, not yet," she explained as Puck covered her hand with his, "but I bet that won't be long," she told him and then surged forwards into his arms. "Oh, I am so glad you were here for this," she sighed against his lips.

"Me too," Puck replied. Puck shifted and used his superior body weight to roll her backwards, he settled over her, her knees up by his hips. "I wouldn't want to miss this for the world," he murmured as his head descended. Puck and Quinn celebrated the life inside her, honoured their love for each other and their child, their children, celebrated life, long, long into the night...


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.**

**A/N: ...some people don't dance, if they don't know who's singing, why ask your head, it's your hips that are swinging, life's for us to enjoy, woman, man, girl and boy, feel the pain, feel the joy, aside set the little bits of history repeating...**

"Hey, Mrs P, Jules asked me to meet her here," Connor said from the doorway a few moments after the last bell of the day had rung, he sounded breathless as if he'd been running, hurrying to get to the appointed place.

"Come in, Connor," Quinn said quite brightly, she felt nervous and glanced behind Connor to see Puck arriving just behind him. "Hi," she said shyly, and felt the bloom of something wonderful cover her body.

"Hey," Puck murmured and bent to drop a sweet little kiss on Quinn's lips. Puck smiled at the look in Quinn's eyes. "Connor, right?" he said to the boy as he perched himself on the corner of Quinn's desk, Puck loved that Quinn couldn't resist a secret little tweak of his ass, she'd always loved his ass, especially in jeans. Or in his uniform. Or his boxers. Or naked.

"Yes, sir," Connor replied and stood a little straighter, he was a bit befuddled, bemused, he had no idea why Mrs P's husband should be there too. Unless it was about his dad, but why would Julia know anything about his dad? "Is-is my dad ok, sir?" he asked nervously.

"He was this morning when I saw him," Puck replied, puzzled. Connor visibly sagged in relief. "Hi," Puck said when he saw the young girl come to stand in the door way. "Julia?" he asked and saw the shy nod.

"Come on in, Julia," Quinn encouraged. "So, Julia, are you ok with my husband being here?" she asked.

"I guess," Julia mumbled and sat down at the first desk, she cleverly managed to avoid looking directly at anyone.

"So, why are we here?" Connor asked, he was getting just a little bit pissed off, he could tell by the atmosphere that something was in the air, he just wished he knew what.

"Julia, do you want to start?" Quinn urged gently.

"Yes," Julia whispered and then gulped as though she was going to throw up. "Ok, so Connor, I have to tell you something," she managed to say and then gulped again.

"You're breaking up with me, aren't you?" Connor said quietly. "Why did you think you had to have Mrs P and him here? What? Did you think I'd go all schizoid or something?" he hissed, the hurt was obvious to all of them.

"No, no, that's not it," Julia answered with a trembling little giggle, a nervous gesture that she just couldn't help. "No, I asked you to meet me in here because I knew that Mrs Puckerman would be able to say the words if they stick in my throat," she admitted. "Pulling off a band-aid, pulling off a band-aid, pulling off a band-aid," she whispered to herself with her eyes closed, rather like saying a prayer, a mantra. "Ok, so I'm just going to come out with it. Connor, I'm pregnant," she announced and then held her breath.

"Wait, what?" Connor asked, his entire body had just shut down, he was sure he'd just heard the words that no high school boy wants to hear. At least he thought he'd heard them. "Did you just...?"

"I'm pregnant," Julia repeated, she was amazed at how easy it was to say the second time around. Connor gulped and stumbled to a seat, he wasn't exactly sure what his response was supposed to be. Connor opened and closed his mouth several times without uttering a sound. "Take your time," Julia advised and settled back, relaxed a little bit more. "We're not going anywhere," she added quietly and then took a book out of her bag and began to read it, well, she pretended to read it, inside she was quietly dying while Connor processed the information.

"Seriously?" Connor whispered, Julia nodded, so did Quinn, so did Puck, Connor looked at each of them in turn as they did so. "Holy crap, my dad is going to kill me," he added, he was scared, truly scared. "Are you going to-to...are you?" he stuttered, the look on his face showed exactly what he thought of the idea that he couldn't actually voice.

"Get an abortion?" Julia filled in for the shell-shocked boy, he nodded. "I don't know, it's an option, I haven't ruled it out," she admitted and wondered if Mrs P had really meant it when she said that she wouldn't be judged.

"Oh, God," Connor sighed, his head fell to the desk, as if he couldn't hold it up any longer, there was too much stuff whirling around in there. "I don't get why you're here," he said randomly to Puck. "Why are you here?"

"In case you went nuts," Puck admitted. "And we thought that maybe you'd need a guy to talk to, one who can relate directly to what you're going through right now."

"What? You knocked someone up in high school?" Connor scoffed incredulously.

"Yep I did," Puck replied with a glance and a wink at Quinn, there was no reason to tell him who, it was enough that the kid knew he wasn't alone, that he wasn't the only one. "So, when you're ready, if you're ready, I'm here, if you want to talk, ok?" he offered.

"But we only did it one time," Connor suddenly cried to Julia. "You haven't let me near you since," he accused, Puck could almost hear himself in the boy's words.

"Once is all it takes," Julia replied.

"And you said you were a virgin when we did it," Connor added quietly, he really wasn't sure that his teacher should be listening to this. "You can't get pregnant the first time," he insisted with a slightly mocking touch, as though this was an absolute fact that every sane and sensible person should know.

"Yes you can," Quinn and Julia replied at exactly the same time. "Trust me, you absolutely can," Quinn added firmly.

"Did you tell your dad yet?" Connor inquired of Julia. "Course you didn't," he mocked himself, answering his own question, "if you did, I wouldn't still be walking around."

"I seriously doubt that either your dad or hers will do you any harm," Puck put in, he needed to make sure that Connor wasn't going to worry himself into doing something stupid. "Ok, so, I know that you haven't made any decisions just yet, I know that you have a lot to talk about, and we're both here for you, for both of you," he assured them, "so what I'm going to offer is to be present when you speak to your parents, if you choose to accept that."

"Would I be able to call my dad, get him to come here now, for like a parent, teacher conference?" Julia asked Quinn, she suddenly knew that she had to get it out in the open right now, while she had the courage surging through her veins.

"Yes, of course, if you think that's the best way," Quinn replied. "Connor, maybe you'd like to do the same? Maybe speak to your parents to get everything out in the open, I mean , I know you haven't had time to process like Julia has, but," she paused, Connor was nodding.

"I'll call my dad now," Connor whispered and plucked his phone from his pocket. "Might as well die today as wait till tomorrow," he muttered to himself. "Mom, is dad home?" he asked when his call was answered. "Good, can you both come to school for a parent teacher conference?" he added. "No, no, I'm not in any trouble, not at school, no it's nothing like that, no, it's something personal that my teacher is helping me with," he explained and then shuddered, he felt bad that he'd just lied to his mom, he'd told her he wasn't in any trouble and he knew that he damn well was. "Mom, I am not gay, that's not what this is, can you just come to school? I'm in Mrs Puckerman's classroom," he muttered, he'd turned away from everyone as though that would make his conversation silent to them. "See you soon," he said as he turned back to Julia.

* * *

><p>"Connor?" Mrs Windle said from the doorway a scant fifteen minutes later, she sounded so worried. "Are you ok, what's going on? Your dad's just having a word with Coach Driscoll," she told her son, she was chattering nervously and glancing around the room. "Julia? Hi, are you ok? What are you doing here?" she asked when she realised that her son's girlfriend was sat at a desk too. Mrs Windle looked closely at her son and at the girl, saw the scared, worried looks on their faces. "No," she stated as a certain fear took hold in her brain. "No, no, no, no, no," she said, shaking her head as if that could change anything. "Tell me it's not true," she whispered tearfully, her hand came up to cover her mouth, to hold back the sob.<p>

"Mrs Windle," Quinn said quietly and stood to introduce herself. "My name is Quinn Puckerman, and I'm your son's English teacher," she explained before the arrival of two men interrupted her.

"Puckerman?" an obviously military man stated when he saw Puck in the room. "What's going on?" he demanded.

"Sir," Puck responded automatically and stood smartly. "With respect sir, this is my wife's domain, I'm just here for support," he informed the Staff Sergeant. Staff Sergeant Windle nodded and looked to Quinn for information.

"Does someone want to tell me what's going on? Julia?" a large man asked, he looked concerned but gentle, forgiving.

"Mr Dykes?" Quinn asked, though she then wondered who else it would be. The large man nodded. "Would you like to sit down? Would you all like to take a seat?" she suggested and indicated the desks and seats that their children were sat at. "Ok," she breathed once they were all settled, she glanced gratefully at Puck when he went and closed the door, which put him back on her side of the room and she felt his energy, his strength, absorbed it. "I'm sure that you can gather for yourselves that your daughter," she indicated Mr Dykes, "and your son," she indicated the Windles, "need to speak to you, myself and my husband are here just to support both Julia and Connor if they need us, otherwise this is all down to you guys," she told them, she felt slightly under the microscope as all eyes were on her. Quinn took a sidestep towards Puck, gravitated towards his warmth.

"Connor?" Brian Windle said and looked at his son for answers.

"Mom, dad," Connor started, his voice clearly showed his nerves, "Mr Dykes," he added and then stood and took Julia's hand, drawing her to her feet too. Connor stood slightly in front of Julia, to Puck it looked very protective and he was certain that Connor didn't even realise he'd done it. "We have something to tell you and please, don't get mad, we didn't mean for it to happen, it just happened," he said and heard Julia sniff back a tear. "Julia is pregnant and it's mine, the baby is mine," he said in a rush. The silence in the classroom was deafening. For the longest moment in history.

Cathy Windle broke down first. "I knew it," she exclaimed. "The second I walked in here and saw your faces, I knew it," she repeated and then searched in her purse for a tissue, she knew her make up must be wrecked by now. "Thank you," she muttered as Quinn offered her the box of tissues from her desk. "What are you going to do? You're only sixteen," she stated, she still hadn't looked at anything other than the tissues, she didn't want to see the disappointment on her husband's face, she knew that he hadn't wanted any of his children to follow their path, repeat their mistakes, even though neither Connor nor his brothers knew that they even had a sister out there in the world somewhere.

Cathy's parents hadn't given them the choice, they hadn't asked what they intended to do, they'd just shipped her off to her aunt's house in Delaware and told her not to darken their door again if she returned with the baby. Brian had tracked Cathy down and stayed with her for the last month of her pregnancy, had held her hand while she had laboured to push their child into the world, had held her and cried with her when they'd signed the adoption papers, had kissed their daughter's tiny head when they handed her over to her new parents and then had used his fake ID to get them a motel room in Vegas, where they'd stayed for ten weeks until Cathy's eighteenth birthday. Neither of them used fake IDs when they'd applied for the marriage licence. It had seriously pissed her parents off when they returned to Keyes, Oklahoma, to announce their marriage and that Brian had enlisted in the air force. It had pissed them off even more that they couldn't do anything about it, but at least Brian and Cathy had been happy for the past twenty two years. They'd have been even happier if they could have kept Joanna, their beautiful daughter.

"Mom, I'm sorry, I know you didn't want this for any of us, it just happened," Connor repeated.

"It never _just happens_," Brian hissed, he felt so angry, so let down, he had talked about this with all of his boys, he thought he'd made sure that they knew how important it was to take care of themselves and their partner.

"I just don't know what to say," Mr Dykes managed to whisper, he looked shell shocked, shocked to the core that his little girl wasn't quite so little any more. "I mean, what would your mother say if she was here?" he asked her quite apathetically, as usual going in with the thing that would hurt the worst.

"Dad, she's not here, and it's not because she's dead like everyone thinks, it's because she ran away with your brother," Julia cried, she was suddenly sick of the self pitying way her dad had of turning everything into some sort of trial he had to deal with. John Dykes looked as if he'd been punched.

"So, what are you going to do?" Brian asked, directing his question more towards Julia. "Are you sure? There's no chance you could be mistaken?" he suggested.

"I have the doctor's report if you want to see it," Julia replied, her voice almost emotionless. "And yes, it definitely is Connor's, there has only ever been that one time, ever," she insisted, and Connor nodded along with her. "I'm sorry, this has been a shock to you all, I mean, I've had a few weeks to come to terms with it, you've all had minutes," she waffled on to herself. "Sixteen weeks," she added, to be precise.

"Sixteen weeks?" Cathy cried, aghast as she eyed the very slim teenager, her disbelief showed on her face.

"How is that even possible?" Puck whispered to Quinn as they both stared at the girl's incredibly flat stomach. "I mean, I thought maybe a few weeks, a couple of months at the most," he mumbled almost silently to Quinn, she nodded without saying word.

Julia thrust her hand up under her shirt, she fiddled with something, unseen from everyone, then like a magician, produced a garment of sorts, some sort of girdle or corset, at the same time, her stomach just popped. Quinn looked in horror at the thing in Julia's hand, as did Cathy Windle. "Oh my God," Cathy cried. "You've been trussing yourself up like this all the time?" she demanded, scared for the girl, scared for the child, her grandchild, scared at how much damage she could have done to either one of them. "We have to get you seen, right now, I want you to be seen by my OB GYN," she insisted, she had to know that this silly girl, in her effort to hide things, hadn't done anything irrevocable.

"My doctor is Dr Reid," Julia said, supplying the name of Quinn's doctor too. "I have an appointment with him on Wednesday," she announced. "Dad, I'm going to need you to call that in for me, I won't be in school," she informed him. Quinn wondered if this was all too much for the young girl to deal with, because it seemed to Quinn as though Julia was in shock. She thought that, despite hanging on to this secret for the past however many weeks that she'd known she was pregnant, she could suddenly fall apart because it wasn't a secret anymore.

"You can't do it," Connor told Julia sadly. "You can't, you can't abort our baby, it's ours, we can do this, we can be a family," he assured her and took her hands, his face and his voice intense, almost frantic.

"No, I know, I can't do that, I never had any intention of doing that, but I had to tell you that it was an option," Julia told Connor, she realised he'd connected her appointment with her suggestion that she hadn't ruled out any possibility. Julia focused all of her attention on him, it was like she'd forgotten that there was anyone else present. "I only said that it was a possibility because, if you'd insisted on going for that choice, well, I would have told you it was fixed and then I'd have gone to live with my mom in Florida," she told him with a shrug. "I couldn't do it but it would have let you off the hook," she said a little sadly. Julia shrugged. "I can still do that," she offered with a glance at their parents. "I can go away and have the baby, maybe come back after, maybe my mom will adopt it, or at least take care of it until I'm through with school," she suggested and then brushed away a tear.

"No," Brian barked, Connor and Julia both jumped. "No, you can't do that, this child is as much Connor's responsibility as yours, you have to give him the chance to be involved," he informed them both. "We would be more than happy to take care of the baby when it comes," he offered with a nod to his wife who nodded along with him, she couldn't speak yet, she was so upset, so devastated at this turn of events. "We cannot have another child with our blood out there in the world and not in our lives, I couldn't live with that," he told Cathy with such feeling, such intense feeling.

"What?" Connor cried, he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. _Another_ child with his parents' blood? What the hell did that mean?

"I don't think I can cope with this," John Dykes whispered and slumped back in the chair. "You'll have to go away, to your sister's, your mother's, maybe your aunt Margaret will take you in, I can't deal with this," he insisted.

"No," Cathy shouted. "No, you will be more than welcome in our home," she told Julia and rushed to take the young girl in her arms. "Connor, you'll move into Josh's room with him, Julia, you can have Connor's room," she said decisively, with authority. "Does that meet with your approval?" she asked Julia's dad, he nodded, stunned. "Fine, Connor, you will drive Julia home and help her to pack, Brian, we'll go home now, make a few changes, tell the boys what's happening, you understand that this will not remain a secret?" she told the teens, they both nodded. "There's no way William will be able to keep this to himself," she muttered, "he makes an official announcement on Twitter if I burn his toast in the mornings, can you see him keeping this quiet?" she demanded, looking at her husband and then her son, they both shook their heads. "Your grandma is going to be pissed, and just so you know, she's probably going to tell you a few of our secrets," she grumbled. Cathy knew her mother-in-law would take great delight in reminding her son that Connor was only following in his dad's footsteps, and the only thing she would be pissed at would be being made a great-grandma before she reached her seventieth birthday.

In a flurry of movement, the three Windles and Julia left the room. "I'm not sure exactly what is going on," John Dykes said quietly, he looked upset, hurt and upset. Quinn gave him a sympathetic smile and watched him leave too.

"Let's go home," Puck said quietly and drew Quinn close to give her a hug.

* * *

><p>"Momma Quinn, momma Quinn," Beth yelled the instant Quinn answered the skype call. "Guess what, guess what," she demanded, she was almost hyperventilating with excitement.<p>

"Errm, you sneezed and blew a strawberry out of your nose," Quinn suggested, overacting her thinking pose.

"No," Beth laughed, her merriment was infectious. "Guess again, guess again," she giggled.

"Errm, you..." Quinn started to say, drawing the word out while she thought of something ridiculous, "...saw a zebra on your way to school this morning?"

"No," Beth shrieked, giggling fit to bust, "guess again," she yelled, laughing so hard that she almost fell off the chair.

"You..." Quinn said, drawing the word out again, "...turned into a monkey after your bath?" she asked, her face showing her surprise when Beth shouted no and then literally did fall from the chair.

"Momma, come and tell momma Quinn, she can't guess," Beth yelled, her back to the computer screen. "Momma's coming, she'll tell you," she assured Quinn excitedly. "Is daddy home too?" she asked.

"He's just gone to pick up Chinese food for us," Quinn whispered. "Momma Quinn did not want to cook tonight," she explained loudly to the little girl as she heard the front door open and footsteps draw near.

"Momma Quinn does not want to cook _any_ night," Puck assured the angel on the screen.

"Daddy, daddy, guess what?" Beth yelled, her excitement grew again.

"You..." Puck said and then did the same as Quinn, thought of something stupid, "flew to the moon and brought me back some green cheese?" he asked.

"Daddy, you're as silly as momma Quinn," Beth giggled. "Momma, they can't guess, come and tell them," she yelled over her shoulder.

"Hi, hi, I'm here," Shelby called as she hurried to the computer to get involved in the conversation. "Hi, oh dear, we've interrupted your dinner?" she asked, she sounded really sorry.

"Don't worry," Puck assured the dark haired woman. "It's Chinese, it'll reheat," he dismissed her concerns.

"Ok, so, I have a question for you," Shelby said with a smile at Quinn. "How would you like Beth to come to you this weekend as well as next weekend?" she asked.

"Seriously?" Puck and Quinn demanded together, flabbergasted at the prospect. Shelby nodded, Quinn thought she saw a slight tremble of her chin but turned a blind eye. "We'd love it," Quinn added breathlessly and searched Shelby's face for any sort of reason, she thought she saw relief in the other woman's eyes.

"Absolutely," Puck agreed and put his thumbs up to Beth, a move that she copied. "Maybe we can choose some new wallpaper for your bedroom?" he suggested to Beth, who again nodded enthusiastically.

"That's great, that's really great," Shelby said with a smile, but there was something in her face, in the tone of her voice that niggled at Quinn, something just didn't sound quite right.

* * *

><p>"What a day," Quinn murmured, the second that Puck curled up behind her in bed, his body warm and comforting to her.<p>

"I know, it's been a long one," Puck agreed and then kissed the hair above her ear. "I wonder what they meant, the Windles, about another child," he pondered out loud. "Do you think they had a kid before, like us?" he asked.

"That's what it sounds like to me," Quinn replied, her voice couldn't disguise how tired she was. "Bet they were in high school too," she suggested, "it's funny how history repeats itself time after time," she murmured, she was asleep almost before she finished speaking.

"As long as it stops with us, and Beth - or bump - don't have to deal with the same thing," Puck whispered to himself, he knew from Quinn's breathing that she was asleep. "I'll do anything to protect you, you and your big sister," he whispered as his hand stroked over the shape of Quinn's stomach. "But you're going to be too smart to get caught out like that," he assured himself and then drew in a deep breath before he settled down to sleep too.

* * *

><p>"I'm he-ere," Beth yelled happily the second that Quinn opened the door on Friday afternoon. She stood looking up at Quinn, her big, beaming smile almost put the sun to shame. "Is daddy home yet?" she asked as she stepped into the house just in front of her mom.<p>

"Not yet, he's going to be a little while," Quinn replied, she couldn't stop smiling at the little girl who looked ready to face the wilderness, with her huge backpack strapped to her back. "What you got in there?" she asked curiously.

"I bringed some pictures for you to keep and I bringed some DVDs of me," Beth answered as if it was the most natural thing in the world, to provide images of herself for their entertainment. "Momma says that you and daddy missed out on my first steps and my first words and my first tooth and my first..." Beth paused as she tried to remember what else her momma had said that momma Quinn and daddy had missed, but she couldn't remember. "Momma, what else did they miss?" she asked, and looked over her shoulder with her nose scrunched up.

"Your first dance recital," Shelby reminded Beth, "your first day at day care, all of your firsts," she added with a shrug, there were so many but Shelby was quite sure she'd provided a copy of as many as possible for Beth to share with her birth parents.

Quinn encouraged Beth to leave the backpack in the lounge so that they could sift through it later, so that she could savour every second of the memories that were stored in there. "Would you like some coffee?" she offered to Shelby.

"Thank you, that would be nice," Shelby replied and followed Quinn into the kitchen. "So, what plans do you have for the weekend?" she asked. "I mean, I know I sort of sprang this on you last minute," she said in a hushed way, she didn't want Beth to think her presence was an intrusion.

"That is so not a problem," Quinn sighed happily. "It's amazing having Beth here with us," she told the older woman, Quinn felt her throat get a little tight. "Shelby, I can't thank you enough for the opportunity, it's just so wonderful, thank you," she whispered a touch tearfully.

"Hi guys," Puck called as he came into the house.

"Daddy's home," Beth cried, and slid from the stool at the breakfast bar to run to greet Puck.

"Hey, here's my big girl," Puck groaned as he picked Beth up on the move. "Hi," he repeated when he came into the kitchen with Beth clung to his back like a spider monkey. "Guess where we're going tomorrow," he said to her.

"I don't know," Beth cried, full of excitement. "To see the baby doctor?" she shouted as a sudden thought hit her. "Is the baby coming out tomorrow?" she demanded excitedly.

"Nope, not yet, she's got a few more months in momma Quinn's tummy to grow and grow, make sure she's nice and big and strong," Puck replied and shucked Beth a little further up his back as she'd started slipping down.

"Not too big," Quinn and Shelby mumbled at the same time, their heads close together so that Beth didn't overhear and ask questions, they both giggled.

"Where are we going?" Beth asked.

"We are going to the airfield and you, my little pilot in training," Puck announced, "are going to fly with me," he told Beth who absolutely lit up, she almost fizzed, bubbled with excitement.

"That is so cool," Beth sighed. "Toria Fox didn't get to fly an airplane," she scoffed.

"Oh, my God," Shelby sighed, "I created a monster," she whispered and looked at Quinn with an apology in her eyes. Quinn grinned and shook her head, she wasn't sure how much of Beth's personality was nature rather than nurture, she'd have probably been the same slightly precocious little minx even if they hadn't given her up for adoption.

Quinn and Shelby chatted quietly while Beth and Puck giggled and played together. "So do you want to tell me what's wrong?" Quinn asked when they were drinking their second cups of coffee, well Quinn had fruit tea, Shelby had coffee.

"Why would you think that something is wrong?" Shelby asked, slightly defensively, she couldn't quite meet Quinn's eye.

"I just think something is a little off," Quinn shrugged. "Is it Rachel?" she asked.

"Rachel is fine as far as I know," Shelby replied.

"Is something wrong with Beth? Is she ill?" Quinn asked, her heart was in her mouth.

"No, no," Shelby reassured Quinn, "Beth is absolutely fine, don't worry."

"So it's you," Quinn surmised and caught the slightly guilty look in Shelby's eyes. "What is it?" she asked, her concern was genuine. "You can tell me anything," she assured the older woman.

"I found a couple of lumps," Shelby revealed, her whispered voice sounded as though she was hanging on by a thread. "I'm having a minor procedure tomorrow, just a biopsy to rule out anything sinister," she assured Quinn, "but I just thought that if Beth was here with you guys, it would be one less thing for me to worry about," she explained. "I'm sorry for not being honest with you," she apologised.

"There's no need to apologise," Quinn murmured as she hugged Shelby. "Would you like me to come with you?" she offered. "Puck and Beth can go flying, and as much as I would love to be with them, I kind of think that you might need someone more," she suggested.

"You'd do that for me?" Shelby whispered, she was so genuinely touched that Quinn would offer to do that and miss out on time with Beth, it just proved to Shelby what a truly beautiful person Quinn was, both inside and out. Quinn nodded that she would. "Thank you," she accepted. "Truth is, I am so scared," she admitted. Shelby glanced over at her little girl, playing obliviously with her daddy, she caught the concerned, questioning glance from Puck and then she looked into Quinn's eyes, those stunning green orbs that were identical to Beth's. "I am scared, Quinn, so scared and I want to ask you something," she murmured with a sniff. "If anything was to happen to me, would you take Beth, bring her here as part of your family?" she asked.

"You even need to ask?" Quinn spluttered, amazed that Shelby thought she should have to ask. "Truth?" she asked, Shelby nodded. "There hasn't ever been a single day go by without Beth being the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think of before I go to sleep, even now, even with this child inside me, it's still Beth that I think of, and that will never, ever change, and yes, of course, absolutely, if anything bad was to happen to you, I cannot think of a better place for her to be than to be with us, her family. You're her mom, her momma, but we're her family too and the truth is, she's the biggest part of all of us," she said, her urgent, whispered speech was impassioned, honest, Quinn gripped both of Shelby's hands tightly, she wanted, needed, to give the other woman both comfort and assurance.

"Thank you," Shelby replied with a tear on her lashes. "I've already spoken with my lawyer, made sure that it's written down, it's set in stone, if anything happens to me before her eighteenth birthday, she is to come to you two and remain as part of your family," she explained, the relief in her whole body was clear for Quinn to see. "She will be well provided for," she assured Quinn. "My years on Broadway paid very well," she giggled with a sniff, the intense emotions had thankfully dissipated a little.

"Things like that don't matter too much," Quinn murmured as she glanced over at Puck who by now had Beth upside down over his shoulder and was dancing around like a lunatic. "She'll be fine with us," she said a little louder to be heard over the hysterical giggles coming from Beth. "And I promise, that if anything does ever happen to you, if Beth does come to live with us, we'll never let her forget about you," she told Shelby with feeling and sympathy. A sudden flash of understanding washed over Quinn. "That's what's in the bag, isn't it?" she asked.

Shelby nodded, a touch embarrassed. "I just wanted to be sure that there will be a safe place for all those memories, someone who will look at them, watch them and appreciate them, never let them die and I know, out of everyone in the whole world, that someone is you," she told Quinn. "I know that the reason you would be looking at them is because of Beth," she admitted with another tearful sniff and a slightly embarrassed laugh, "but it's like, if they get looked at, acknowledged, it's like they'll always be real, they won't disappear and honestly, that's what scares me the most, that I'll just disappear and I know you won't let that happen."

"No, I won't," Quinn agreed. "Truth is, you'll always be here with us, I won't ever let you just fade away."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.**

**A/N: Two become three, three become four...**

"But _why_ didn't momma and momma Quinn want to come with us?" Beth asked for the tenth time. "Didn't they _want_ to fly with us?" she pouted.

Puck grinned at the cutesy little blonde. "I think they wanted to give us some daddy, daughter time," he told her and chucked her cheek. "Are you ready to take off?" he asked, allowing his own excitement to show through. Puck went through the usual checks and procedures with the control tower and recieved the clearance that he needed. Beth looked at him with such excited, trusting eyes, Puck felt like he was the king of the world.

"Are we really going to be flying? In the air? Really?" Beth cried, she couldn't believe this was actually happening, she couldn't wait to go to school on Monday. "What did you do on the weekend?" her teacher would ask. "Oh, flew a airplane with my daddy," she would answer as though it was something so every day and ordinary. Beth could almost picture Toria Fox's crumpled up, grumbly face and it made her smile so brightly.

"Ok, feel that?" Puck asked as the wheels left the ground. "That's it, we're in the air," he informed the excited little girl by his side. Puck was really glad that he had unlimited use of the Cirrus T-53A light aircraft that the squadrons based at Wright-Patterson used for training flights. He'd asked his CO if he could use a few of his hours to take Beth on her very first non-commercial flight, permission had been granted, and here they were, the two of them, in the air and Beth was entranced, hooked.

* * *

><p>"How are you feeling?" Quinn asked Shelby as they climbed back into Quinn's car.<p>

"Exhausted," Shelby sighed, "which is stupid, I mean, he only gave me a local, right?" she muttered. "Thank you for holding my hand, I really appreciate it," she told Quinn. "And I'm sorry for squeezing the crap out of it," she added and blushed slightly.

"That's ok," Quinn replied with a grin, "gives me a bit of insight into what Puck is going to have to put up with in a few months," she laughed. "Are you sure you want me to take you home to your house?" she asked after a slight pause. "Because I'd much rather take you home with me, so that I know you aren't going to go into meltdown," she said with a sly glance at the woman on her right.

"Thanks," Shelby managed to say, but only just, she was struggling trying to string anything together. "Do you think we could stop at the mall for a while?" she asked. "Just maybe sit with a coffee, do some people watching, maybe a touch of window shopping for baby things?" she asked, tempting Quinn more than she could know.

"Are you sure you feel up to that?" Quinn asked.

"Yes, I'm only tired because I didn't sleep well last night," Shelby explained. "Thank you, for making me stay with you last night too, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it, you've been a lot more forgiving than I ever could be," she added quietly, and she didn't know how to express it any better, she was grateful, she was so grateful, and yes, she realised that she should tell Rachel what was going on, Quinn was right about that. Quinn gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, then turned the car around and headed towards the mall.

* * *

><p>"Look, down there," Puck cried and encouraged Beth to look out of the windows, "look, there's our house down there, that's where me and Quinn live," he pointed out.<p>

"Really? It looks tiny," Beth shouted above the noise of the aircraft. "Where are we flying to?" she demanded.

"We're going to fly over Lima, over nana Lydia's house and grandma Judy's house and then we're going to fly back and land in Fairborn," Puck explained.

"Can we fly over Toria Fox's house?" Beth asked, she hoped that they could, Toria Fox would never be able to say that she'd flown over Beth's house on the weekend, just because her daddy wanted to take her flying. "Daddy, can I learn how to do it?" she asked.

"When you're bigger you can," Puck agreed immediately, and he genuinely saw no reason why he could not teach her to fly once she was old enough to get her licence.

"How much bigger?" Beth demanded, she thought she might be big enough already.

"You have to wait till you're sixteen to get your pilot's licence," Puck told Beth and saw the pout and the frown. "That's the rules, baby, sixteen."

* * *

><p>"Mmmm, this is wonderful," Shelby sighed as she inhaled the rich aroma of her coffee.<p>

"I know, I have to come here at least once a week just to sniff the air," Quinn pouted, "since I'm not allowed to drink coffee right now, not even decaf," she grumbled, "and I miss it so much, more than I miss wine or beer," she added. "Coffee, that first sip in the morning, it's like...it's like...it's like heaven must be," she sighed dramatically.

"Coffee's good, but I wouldn't go that far," Shelby laughed, she looked at the face that Quinn was pulling, like she was the most put upon person on the planet, she looked like Beth when she couldn't get her own way. "I can think of things I miss more than I'd miss coffee," she added quietly. "Like sex," she said almost silently. "Oh my God, did I say that out loud?" she asked, blushing furiously when she saw the surprised look on Quinn's face. Quinn nodded. "I did not just say that, it was a figment of your imagination," Shelby stated with an embarrassed smile and then refused to make eye contact with Quinn at all. Quinn held in the giggle but did not say a word.

"Hi, Mrs Puckerman," Julia Dykes said as she came to clear the table.

"Julia, hi," Quinn replied, surprised to see her student, although she shouldn't be, she knew a number of her students held down part-time jobs. "How are you today?" she asked. Julia glanced at Shelby and then quickly back to Quinn. "Don't worry, this is my very good friend, Shelby Corcoran," Quinn introduced.

Julia gulped. "_The _Shelby Corcoran?" she whispered. "Wicked? Gypsy? Cabaret? Evita?" she asked, listing just some of Shelby's performances, Shelby and Quinn nodded at each suggestion. "Oh. My. God," Julia sighed, obviously star-struck. "Shelby Corcoran. Right here. In Fairborn. Here. And she's drinking coffee at one of my tables," she added, Julia sounded like she was going to wet herself at any moment. Quinn couldn't help but grin.

"It has been many years since anyone recognised me like that," Shelby told the young girl. "My ego thanks you," she added humourously.

Quinn's phone rang, interrupting the moment. "Excuse me," she muttered and left the table to take the call from Puck. "Hi," she said with a smile.

"Hey, we're back on terra firma," Puck told Quinn with smile. "How's things?" he asked, he was vague about it because he didn't want Beth to pick up that there was something wrong with Shelby, time enough for that if they had to face it in the future.

"Good, really good," Quinn replied and glanced over to where Shelby was autographing a napkin for Julia and one for her mom, her grandma, her aunt and her sister, apparently they were all big Broadway fans. "The doctor was very optimistic once he had the biopsies under the microscope," she explained. "I mean, they have to conduct tests and stuff, but he said from the looks of things, Shelby's in the clear, they're cysts and nothing more dangerous."

"That's a relief, right?" Puck replied, and he genuinely sounded incredibly relieved. "I mean, how would we explain that to Beth?" he asked.

"It is," Quinn agreed. "Listen, I've encouraged Shelby to stay with us for another night," she told Puck. "We're going to call in at Sherwin-Williams to pick up some wallpaper samples, we'll be home in about an hour, ok?"

"Cool, take care, I'll see you soon," Puck responded before he ended the call. "You know something?" he said to Beth, she looked up at him and gave him a 'what?' look. "I think we should go home and start dinner," he announced. "Guess what we're eating today," he suggested.

"Pizza," Beth cried.

"Nope," Puck replied. Puck was cooking so it would have to be the only thing that he could cook really well, spaghetti.

"But I like pizza, it's my favourite," Beth announced and looked at Puck with her puppy dog eyes.

"But I don't know how to make pizza except for the frozen kind," Puck answered sadly and it made him feel so guilty, so inadequate, especially when Beth sighed so dramatically.

"It's all right," Beth assured Puck, although she looked at her feet and sighed very, very heavily.

"You really want pizza that much?" Puck asked Beth and jiggled her hand to gain her attention. Beth looked up and nodded, her eyes looked huge. Sad and huge. "Fine, what do you want on your pizza?" he asked, and mentally planned a trip to three possible restaurants to pick up dinner.

"Thank you, daddy," Beth said, she sounded so grateful, she sounded so totally sincere, she sounded like a suck up. Puck rolled his eyes.

* * *

><p>"Tuna and olives?" Quinn asked as she looked at her pizza and salad, she was puzzled, totally puzzled, Puck didn't tend to go for a fish topping, he usually opted for endless varieties of red meat, which she grumbled at him for, considering his grandpa had died from a massive heart attack.<p>

"Beth, right?" Shelby giggled and picked up her fork. "Did you get the big sigh and the sad look?" she asked, and caught the guilty look on Puck's face. "She's good, right?" she asked proudly.

"You mean she knows how to manipulate people to get her own way," Puck pouted as he realised that he had been totally played. He glanced at Quinn. "I wonder who she gets that from?" he muttered under his breath.

"That she does," Shelby agreed, quietly ignoring Quinn's snicker of laughter. They ate in silence for a few moments. "Listen, I want to thank you guys," she said quietly, "I don't think I could have managed today without your help, Quinn, I know I couldn't have handled the hospital on my own, so thanks," she added and reached out a hand to cover Quinn's on the table.

"I'm ba-ack," Beth cried as she rushed into the dining room at quite a pace.

"And did you wash your hands?" Shelby asked, Beth nodded. Shelby raised her eyebrow and continued to look at her daughter. Beth blushed. "Bethany Quinn Corcoran, what have I told you about that?" she scolded and then excused them both as she left the table to take Beth back to the bathroom to wash her hands properly.

Puck and Quinn looked at each other in surprise. Puck gulped and spoke first. "Did you know?" he asked, Quinn shook her head.

"No, I didn't know, I had no idea, I never even thought about it," Quinn whispered, she was thrilled, delighted, "did you?" she asked, Puck shook his head too. They both looked up as Beth and Shelby returned, Beth didn't look quite so pleased with herself.

"Sorry about that," Shelby sighed as she and Beth took their seats again. "So, how was your flight?" she asked Beth, to restart the relaxed conversation.

"It was wonderful," Beth replied, she was totally hero-struck because her daddy could fly airplanes and not everyone's daddy could do that, and because after their flight over Lima - and Toria Fox's house - Puck had taken Beth to sit in the cockpit of the huge Hercules aircraft that he usually flew, and then, because one was there at the airfield, he took her to sit in the pilot's seat of a Chinook, the actual pilot of the machine gave Puck a run down of some of the giant bird's capabilities, while allowing Beth to touch buttons and switches. "Can we do it again?" she asked brightly.

"Sure, we'll do it again soon," Puck agreed.

"And maybe momma and momma Quinn can come with us too," Beth added excitedly.

"Maybe," Quinn agreed.

* * *

><p>"Mrs Puckerman?" Julia whispered from the doorway.<p>

"Yes, Julia?" Quinn answered as she looked up from the work that she was making. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Julia replied and wandered into the classroom. "We're going for the detailed ultrasound tomorrow," she told Quinn, she seemed slightly excited about it. "Connor can't wait, he wants to know if the baby looks like him or not," she added with a smile. "Cathy is coming too," she said and felt a bit embarrassed about it.

"Puck missed that one," Quinn pouted with her nose wrinkled up. "I mean, he didn't want to miss it but he was stuck in Europe and I had to go, my sister met me there, so we both got to watch this little girl dance around on my bladder," she joked.

"On the last scan the baby was still hiding itself, it's a bit ambiguous, we still don't know yet if it's a girl or a boy," Julia said with a slightly strangled laugh. "Cathy says she'd be so excited if it's a little girl because she and Brian gave up a daughter for adoption over twenty years ago," she explained, "and they've only had sons since. Cathy said that she sometimes feels that God was punishing her by never letting her have another daughter," she said and looked at Quinn with a worried face.

"But look at the wonderful sons that she does have, right?" Quinn countered, she didn't want Julia going down the path of punishment and retribution, she herself had been far too judgemental of both herself and other people in her early and mid teens, and it had all been in the name of religion. "Are you settling in ok?" Quinn thought to ask after a moment or two of uncomfortable silence.

"Yes, it's nice living there at Connor's house," Julia admitted, "it's nice having a mom in the house," she added with a small touch of wistfulness. "Connor sneaks into my room sometimes at night, he holds me all night but then has to go back to his brother's room in the morning so that his mom doesn't find out," she revealed with an embarrassed grin. "He has his brother sworn to secrecy so he won't split on us to his mom, but his dad says it's ok, it's not like we can get into trouble, right?"

Quinn smiled to herself, she remembered those days herself, the way that Puck had crept into bed with her once his mom was asleep, how wonderful and romantic it had all seemed to her teenaged self. "And how do you feel about it? Do you want him to sneak in?" Quinn asked.

Julia blushed and nodded. "I like it that he does," she admitted shyly.

"Hey," Connor called from the doorway, "are you ready to go home?" he asked. Julia nodded and slid off the desk to walk towards him, immediately Quinn was transported back, she remembered Puck stopping by classrooms to pick her up and drive her home, she remembered calling in for groceries before they reached home, she remembered arriving home to wonderful smelling meals with strange names, although Puck revealed very early on in their relationship that he'd never known his mom to make so many traditional and Kosher meals, it was like she was trying to remind Quinn on a daily basis that they were a Jewish family and she was an interloper. Quinn remembered the day that he'd begged his nana Beth to have a quiet word with his mom, tell her to tone it down a bit and to remind her that the damage was already done, Quinn living with them wouldn't change anything, the only thing it would do was give him a chance to convince her that he was there for her, for her and the baby. Quinn also remembered the not so good stuff, and the real reason that she had left Puck to go live with Mercedes. "Bye, Mrs Puckerman, see you tomorrow," Connor said politely, interrupting Quinn's private thoughts, before taking Julia's hand and leading her from the class.

"Hey, meet the parents," a mocking voice reached Quinn's ears, she knew immediately that it was the worst bully in the school and that he was directing his nastiness towards Julia and Connor. "Hi mommy, hi daddy," he said in an annoyingly nauseating baby voice.

"Oh," Quinn cried in disappointment from her doorway, "I thought my husband was here when you said that," she added and stared down the blushing boy, he'd had no idea that he would be overheard by a teacher.

"Bye, Mrs Puckerman," Connor repeated and gave her a slight smile before he and Julia left.

* * *

><p>"Hey, hey, hey, look at that little face," Puck cried to Beth as they both stared at the screen. "She looks just like you," he whispered just behind Beth's ear. "Don't you think she does?" he asked Quinn.<p>

"I think so too," Quinn agreed, and smiled at both Puck and Beth as they grinned back at her.

"How much longer?" Beth asked, she really liked coming to see the baby on the screen and stuff, but she really wanted her sister to come out now.

"We still have to wait a couple more months," Puck reminded Beth, "but look at how she's moving in momma Quinn's tummy, see that?" he said as the baby's foot pressed upwards, the shape of it quite distinct, quite recognisable.

"Around six more weeks," Dr Reid confirmed and then wiped the gel from Quinn's stomach and helped her to sit up on the couch. "I need you to make an appointment for next week, we'll continue with weekly appointments until you deliver, alright?" he said, Quinn nodded and shuffled to the edge and then put her feet to the floor. Puck stood up and took Quinn's other hand, gave her a little bit of support. "Are you excited for your new baby sister to come?" he asked Beth, she nodded and grinned.

"Yep," Beth answered, and she was, she kept on telling her momma that she was. Beth kept on telling Toria Fox too, but Toria didn't like it because she was a little sister and her momma had told her that she wasn't ever going to have any more babies so Toria would always be the littlest. Beth reminded Toria that she was going to be a big sister at every opportunity.

* * *

><p>"Hi, mom, Lydia, Jenna, it's lovely to see you," Quinn said as she opened the door to their moms and Puck's sister. "Frannie is already in the lounge, the girls are too, Shelby is taking Beth to meet Puck at the airfield first then coming here, she shouldn't be too long," she explained and stepped back for both women to enter.<p>

"Lydia, hi," Rachel cried when she saw the other woman, a woman who had been quite prominent during her formative years, the Jewish community in Lima was not huge and never had been, most people were related in some way, or at the very least, they knew everyone.

"Rachel, it's so good to see you, how is New York treating you?" Lydia asked her as she hugged the diminutive brunette.

"It's wonderful," Rachel sighed, her face as expressive as her voice. "I've just been cast in Fifty Shades, the musical," she informed everyone proudly. "We open in April," she said after the murmurs had died down.

"Oh, how fabulous," Frannie exclaimed. "We should have a girls' weekend, we should all be there for opening night," she suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Mercedes toasted with her glass high in the air. "But how about we get this party started?" she encouraged.

Everyone sat down in the lounge and chatted for a few moments until the doorbell rang again. "Excuse me," Quinn whispered to her sister and scurried to the door. "Shelby," she cried and hugged the other woman as she stepped into the house. "That's everyone," she called over her shoulder, "you can bring out the gifts now," she giggled. "That's the only reason I allowed you all to come here today, for the swag," she added, laughing even harder. "Come on, let me see the goodies," she giggled and then clapped her hands together excitedly.

Tina had wanted to do this for Quinn years ago, she had wanted to give her a baby shower to show her support, for all of the glee club to show their support, to both Puck and Quinn, but most especially to Quinn. Puck had thought it was a great idea, he'd even helped Tina to set it up in the choir room, he'd provided the refreshments, he'd bought the stroller and the car seat, he'd even bought a ring. Quinn had freaked out and did the only thing she could think of, she'd run away, run to Mercedes, she'd left Puck and told him that she couldn't take the pressure, couldn't take him hassling her about keeping the baby, she'd screamed at him that she never wanted to see him again, that she hated him, that she would never, ever, want his child. And then she just couldn't take it back. Once it was out there, it was like a pulsing, palpable, living thing, it was impossible to ignore. It was only when they were stood together in front of the nursery window, gazing at their beautiful creation that Quinn had realised how much she had hurt Puck. She'd also realised how much she had to beg his forgiveness. And he had forgiven her. Just like that, he'd forgiven her. Forgiven her for lying. Again.

* * *

><p>"And this is from me and Mike," Tina said as she passed over a huge, beautifully wrapped gift.<p>

"Thank you," Quinn sighed as she unwrapped a fabulous arrangement of diapers and newborn baby essentials. "I can't believe we only have a month left to be a couple," she said for the third or fourth time. "Another month and we'll be a family," she sighed.

"I thought we were already a family," Frannie reminded her sister. Judy, Lydia, Jenna and Shelby all grumbled something similar too.

"You know what I mean," Quinn replied and wafted her hand towards her sister. Frannie nodded, she did know, it was a different sort of a family feel.

"Game time," Frannie called to bring everyone back to order. "For a coupon for a mani-pedi at Studio Six, which actually means, as that's right here in Fairborn and the only one of us to live here is Quinnie, that whoever wins this prize will probably donate it to my very deserving sister. Or me," she added with a wink. "Ok, three questions. So, who can guess where Quinn and Puck shared their very first kiss?" Frannie read from the card. "And I have the answers here in this envelope," she announced, holding the pink envelope above her head.

"Oh," Santana cried all of a sudden and furiously wrote something on her answer sheet. "Hey, get your own answer, Hobbit," she growled at Rachel. "I'm just kidding," she relented quickly and hugged Rachel, although she hid her answer sheet behind her back.

"Number two, where were they the very first time that Puck asked Quinnie to marry him?" Frannie asked, reading from her sheet. "And I don't mean when he asked her in Hebrew, I mean the first time that he asked and Quinnie understood him," she clarified. "Number three," Frannie stated once the ladies were looking at her expectantly, "What was the first song that Puck sang to Quinn?"

"They weren't hard questions," Santana commented smugly, "not if you've listened to Quinn or taken notice over the years," she preened. "When I win it, sorry Q, but I think I might just have to take advantage of the coupon myself," she sighed and inspected her fingernails.

"Alright, ready for the answers?" Frannie asked and prepared to open the envelope. "All answers have been supplied and verified by my darling sister Quinnie and my fabulous brother-in-law, Puck. Drum roll, please," she teased. "Number one, first kiss was..." she said and paused for a second. As expected, several people called out their answers.

"Under the bleachers," Santana cried.

"In the science lab at McKinley," Tina shouted a little louder than Santana had.

"At Lima Mall near the food court," Rachel cried.

"Outside the Lima Bean," Lydia yelled, she was sure that she was right.

"In the parking lot at Breadstix," Mercedes cried.

"On the lips," Brittany shouted and then looked puzzled when everyone groaned around her. "What?" she demanded.

"Nope," Frannie said, shaking her head, "and I have photographic evidence," she added and grinned at Quinn again,

"Oh, can I change my answer?" Judy suddenly cried. "I know it now," she insisted and smiled at her youngest daughter who was grinning widely.

"First answer is the only accepted one," Frannie stated. "I think we'll leave that one. Number two, where were they when he asked her to marry him?" she asked and looked expectantly at the ladies.

"Choir room," Mercedes shouted.

"Knowing my son, it was probably a bedroom," Lydia muttered and then sipped at her drink.

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner," Frannie cried and pointed at Lydia. "Can you be more specific, please?" she asked.

Lydia glanced at Quinn, saw the message she was trying to send with her eyes. "At Dudley Road," she answered thoughtfully, "in Quinn's bedroom," she added to be a little more precise.

"Exactly," Frannie sighed. "You wouldn't like to tell us when, would you?" she asked. Lydia laughed and shook her head, so did Quinn.

"And number three, what was the first song?" Frannie recapped the question.

"Sweet Caroline," Tina called, she remembered listening to Puck singing that in the choir room, the very first time he soloed on anything, and she remembered how they looked at each other. Frannie shook her head.

"Beth," Shelby called, she'd heard the story time and time again, again Frannie and Quinn shook their heads.

Title after title was called out, to every one of them, Frannie and Quinn replied no. "I'll give you a clue," Frannie offered, "it's connected with the photo and the first time they kissed," she said with a touch of mystery, and waved the envelope again.

"Ok, we give up," Santana sighed.

"You're sure? Mom? Do you give up too?" Quinn asked.

"Well, I thought I knew part of it, but I have no idea what song it would be so, yes, I give up," Judy said with a fake pout.

"Ok, so, here it is, photographic evidence of that very first kiss," Frannie announced and pulled an old picture of herself and her best friend from the envelope.

"What?" Mercedes, Rachel and Santana shrieked in unison. "I don't get it," Mercedes added, she took the picture to inspect it closely. "I still don't get it," she frowned and handed the picture on to Santana.

Every one of them inspected the picture and then passed it on. None of them spotted it, until the picture arrived with Lydia and Judy. "Aww," Judy sighed, as did Lydia.

"That is so, so sweet," Lydia agreed. "Look at that," she said and held up the picture for every one to see. "See there?" she asked, her finger pointing at a spot behind Frannie and the other girl. "Here, look closely," she offered and handed the picture back.

"Oh, wow," Tina whispered. "How were we supposed to see that?" she asked. "But sweet, very, very sweet," she added.

"What is, let me see," Santana insisted and took the picture. "Oh, I see it now," she mumbled and pulled a face. "There was never any hope for anyone else, was there?" she teased.

"Not ever," Quinn agreed and stared at the picture once it landed back with her. She hadn't remembered the incident, obviously when she saw just how young they were - still in diapers - but there was something special, memorable about it and Quinn secretly wondered if their bodies, their souls had recognised each other the very first time they met at McKinley, Puck had laughed at her fanciful thoughts, but he hadn't denied it, neither had he given an alternative theory. "So, a couple of months ago, Frannie was looking through some old pictures with Beth and we came across this," she explained and held up the picture. "This is Frannie with her best friend, Caroline, way back in 1996, and right there, on the left you can see my mom and Lydia, side by side on a bench, chatting, they're obviously watching their children," she pointed out. "And there, just over Frannie's shoulder is me and Puck," she pointed to the two toddlers in the sandbox, the young pair had leaned towards each other, their faces pressed together, Puck's hand rested on Quinn's shoulder. "And Puck had been singing a Barney song at me the whole time, he used to just sing it all of the time, right Lydia?" she asked.

"Yes, constantly," Lydia replied with relief that he didn't still sing it all the time.

"Oh, I remember that," Rachel cried. "He was always singing I Love You," she said and looked to Lydia to confirm it, Lydia nodded.

"Yes, and when we went to the park to play, he used to play in the sandbox with this beautiful little blonde girl called Lucy, he never forgot her, he used to talk about her even years later," Lydia said with a huge smile, she was really getting into the swing of things. "And then when he brought Quinn home with him that first time, there was something familiar about her but I didn't work it out, I thought that maybe she reminded me of someone on TV or something," she laughed. "This picture just says it all, I remember it well, don't you?" she asked Judy.

"Oh, I do," Judy sighed and stared at the picture again. "He was a very handsome little boy," she said with a smile, "and my little Lucy was totally smitten with him, I never for one moment suspected that they would end up married years later," she giggled.

"Fate is a wonderful thing," Quinn sighed and leaned back in her seat to give her stomach a little bit of room. "Ok, so what present do I get to open now?" she demanded with a Beth type pout, although she was totally joking.

* * *

><p>"Hi," Quinn called as she heard the door open and Puck and Beth come in. "I'm in here, come and see all the goodies," she told them.<p>

"Wow, this place looks like Babies R Us," Puck laughed. "Is there anything left that we need to get?" he asked, he was flabbergasted, he'd never for one moment thought that they would get this many presents before the baby was born. "Did they try to pry her name from you?" he asked and moved a hamper of diapers so that he could sit down.

"Yep," Quinn replied and then blew out a breath to blow the hair from her forehead. "I told them we still haven't settled on one," she added and then tilted her face for Puck to kiss her. "Did you have a good time, flying with daddy?" she asked Beth.

"It was the best," Beth sighed. "Will we still be able to do it when the baby gets here?" she asked, suddenly aware that the dynamics of this new little three-some would change beyond recognition.

"Of course," Quinn replied. "Even when the baby gets here, we still both want our special alone time with you," she confirmed and hugged Beth close to her side. "I love the time we spend reading together, and I'm sure that Puck will take care of the baby so that we can still do that, and I know that Puck loves flying with you, I promise that I will take care of the baby so that you two can still do that together. That doesn't mean that we won't do the same things with the baby," she thought to add, she'd hate for Beth to find out in years to come that they'd done the same special things with her sister, so making Beth feel that the time spent was less special. "But we do want you to have your own, special, uninterrupted time with us, if you still want to, that is," she explained.

"Thank you, mommy," Beth sighed quietly as she hugged Quinn tight around the neck.

"Hey, that was nice, but what happened to momma Quinn?" Quinn asked, her voice was thick and she had tears in her eyes, she was touched so deeply.

"Well, Toria Fox says that most kids call their momma 'mommy' and that she doesn't know anyone else who says momma and the name, like I do with you," Beth explained, a slight frown on her face. "She said that the baby will just call you mommy, when she learns how to talk, not straight away, cos babies don't talk right away, they have to learn, my momma says so," she instructed.

"Right," Puck said quietly, as though learning something new.

"So, I thought that if the baby hears me calling you momma Quinn, she'll call you that too and that won't be fair," Beth said, "like when I called Carlos Spanish onion because all the other kids did, momma said it was mean and I shouldn't just copy," she explained quickly. "So even though Toria Fox calls Carlos that, I don't, I call him Carlos because I don't want to be mean like her, I want to be nice like my momma, like you and like daddy," she said and then smiled so brightly at them.

"Fair enough," Quinn said with a nod. "Did you tell your momma about that?" she asked.

"Yep, momma said it was a good choice," Beth answered and then left Quinn's side to inspect some of the gifts that had been received. "Will she really be little enough to fit inside this?" she asked in awe as she picked up the tiniest, tiniest, onsie that Quinn had ever seen.

"Possibly," Quinn replied and ran her hands over the bulge of her daughter. "And if she's too big for it, I'm sure we can find a teddy bear or a dolly for you that can make use of it, right?" she grinned at Beth, Beth nodded happily.

* * *

><p>"This room looks amazing," Quinn sighed. She looked around the nursery, the beautiful palest of pale pink, polka dotted wallpaper covered the walls, the ceiling was white to pick out the dots and the light oak floor was perfect with the matching rugs.<p>

"Do you like the crib there?" Puck asked, he'd sort of followed Quinn's floor plan, but once he had things in place he'd thought the room looked a little unbalanced, so he'd switched a couple of things around.

"It's perfect, it's all perfect," Quinn managed to say, she was overcome, emotional. "We're all ready for you, little girl," she told her stomach. "Any time you want to pop out and say hello, well, we're ready," she giggled as a foot thumped into her hand, almost as if the baby was acknowledging her words.

Puck grinned and stroked his hand across her stomach too and dropped a kiss on Quinn's head, he knew that since she'd begun her maternity leave last week, she was getting anxious for everything to be over, for the baby to come. He was getting fairly anxious too...

* * *

><p>"Hey, Puck," Quinn whispered and pinched the underside of his arm. Puck yelped and was awake in a split second.<p>

"What?" Puck demanded, he looked at Quinn crossly. Puck had been in the middle of dreaming about the most amazing blow job that she'd ever given him, it was so realistic he felt sure he could still feel her lips around him, and for the past three weeks he had been so seriously deprived, it had been like being deployed overseas with no way of being with her at all, the only way he could touch her was in his dreams.

"I've been having contractions for the past three hours," she announced and winced as yet another one struck her.

"Three hours?" Puck yelled and flew out of bed. "What the hell? Why didn't you wake me?" he demanded.

"Because they weren't regular, there wasn't anything in particular happening," Quinn explained quietly, "and now there is," she added. "And my water broke," she said in a trembling voice.

"Did you call Dr Reid?" Puck demanded as he hunted around for his pants.

"Yes, he said to make our way to the hospital, he'll see us there," Quinn said while breathing calmly. "Oh, this is getting worse," she wailed as a fierce contraction struck her quite out of sequence with the regular ones that she'd been having.

"Let's go," Puck whispered excitedly and helped Quinn to pull on some yoga pants and a loose top, he collected her bag and the things she'd identified that she wanted with her. "Ready?" he asked, Quinn nodded nervously, her lips were trembling. "We'll be cool," he encouraged with a grin. "We're ready for this, we're so ready," he reminded her.

"I know," Quinn agreed. "Should we call our moms once we get to the hospital or wait till we have some more information?" she asked, to pass the time on the drive. At least the roads were quiet at that time of night.

"I think we should wait till you're set up in your room and then call them," Puck answered after a moment's thought.

* * *

><p>"Hi, mom, Judy," Puck called once both ladies were on the conference call. "We're here at the hospital, Quinn's water broke about an hour or so ago, contractions are every three minutes," he listed, going through the information, "and the nurse just checked, she is eight centimeters dilated, so we're on for delivery real soon," he said, he sounded so excited. "Quinn, they want to know if you want them to come right now?" he asked her.<p>

"Yes, yes, yes...yes, yes, yes, yes," Quinn moaned, muttered through her teeth as she fought to keep herself under control. "Yes, I'd like them to come," she sighed once the worst had passed.

"Did you hear that?" Puck asked the two ladies, they answered that they had. "We'll see you in a couple of hours," he added before he hung up. "Do you think they'll get here before she does?" he asked Quinn with a nod at her stomach, before he perched on the edge of her bed.

"I hope not," Quinn groaned and prepared herself for the onslaught of another contraction. "There's no respite, it's just endless, oh, God, call Dr Reid, oh, Puck, I...oh, God, call him, call him," she demanded as everything suddenly stepped up a gear.

Puck rushed to the door to call for assistance, he was met by the door pushing open into him, Dr Reid and two of the nurses on duty came rushing in. "Hi, the monitors at the nurses' station showed a big change, let's get you over on your side, one second Quinn, just give us a second, let's turn you over, there we are," he murmured. "That's it, that's better, Quinn, you're going to feel some pressure, I need you to just relax, there we go, feel that? That's your baby's head, she's getting impatient, I just needed to slow her down a little, but here we go, it's show time," he said with more excitement than Puck would have expected for a man who was woken out of a sound sleep at four in the morning.

The nurses helped Quinn to turn back over, helped her to get into position. "Come on baby," Puck murmured with her hand against his lips, "you're amazing, you can do this," he encouraged. Every single thing they had been taught in Lamaze had just drained out of his head, every single piece of advice he'd been given by his colleagues, by friends, anyone, it all just drifted away and Puck felt himself whiz back to the age of sixteen, felt the uncertainty of what was going on, he felt scared. Exhilarated and scared.

"Oh my God, oh my God, ohmyGodohmyGodohmyGod," Quinn growled, she was slightly upright, her shoulders were up off the pillows, she had one hand thrust under her thigh, Puck gripped the other, but she couldn't even think about him right now, she could barely think beyond the limits of her own skin. "How is she doing?" she breathed, she sounded exhausted, her eyes were closed, she wasn't sure she even had the energy to open them.

"Baby is doing fine," Dr Reid replied, though from his position between Quinn's thighs, he sounded quite distracted. "Get ready for the next one, Quinn," he warned, he had one hand on her stomach, the other was somewhere that Puck didn't even want to think about. "Use the entonox, Quinn, that's what it's there for, don't be a martyr, I'm a guy and even I know this hurts like a son of a bitch," he informed her, teasing just slightly.

"Give," Quinn instructed Puck, he passed the tube to her, held it for her so that she could suck on it, ease some of her pain. "No more, please, no more, I'm done, I've had enough, I can't do this anymore," she wailed. "I want to go home," she cried and then allowed the tears to fall, couldn't stop them actually, "I want to go home."

"Quinn, I need you to bear down for me," Dr Reid instructed. "Come on, give me all you've got, come on Quinn, one more, push for me, that's it, that's it, that's it, push, push, push, push, push," he ordered.

"Oh," Quinn screamed, her entire body scrunched up, every single molecule of her being was focused on expelling the child from within her womb.

"Come on, Quinn, come on," Puck coached, he really wasn't sure he was saying the right thing, he looked to the nurses, they nodded in encouragement. Puck wondered if his hand would ever recover from the death grip that Quinn had on it, but he knew better than to complain, he really knew better. "Quinn, you're doing great, you're nearly there," he encouraged.

"What the fuck would you know?" Quinn screeched at Puck and yanked her hand away. "You're just a stupid, fucking man," she yelled, "what would you know?" she demanded, the last word segued into a primal scream so petrifying, so elemental, that Puck was sure that it would currently be echoing around every single floor of the entire hospital.

"Quinn, here's her head, she's crowning," Dr Reid informed them, "I need you to concentrate now, pant, keep panting," he instructed. "That's it, that's it," he praised. "Wait for the contraction, that's it, push now Quinn, one more big push, push, push, push, that's it," he called, the excitement in the doctor's voice rose as he stood just slightly from the stool, "and here she is, here she is," he cried and swiftly laid the newborn across Quinn's stomach.

"Oh my God," Quinn wailed as she realised that it was all over, that she was now the proud mommy of one tiny, beautiful, baby Puckerman. "Oh, baby, you are so beautiful," she cried as she tried to inspect the shivering, wailing, scrap of humanity. Puck couldn't move, he was transfixed, he was mesmerised, the only thing he was aware of doing was wiping the tears from his face, he couldn't believe she was actually here, real. Quinn cried through every kiss that Puck pressed onto her lips, she didn't think she'd ever stop crying, she was shivering, she was an emotional wreck, it was like every single feeling that she'd ever, ever had, ever in her life, had snuck up on her, blindsided her and overtaken her body. Quinn wondered if life would ever feel normal again.

* * *

><p>"Hi," Judy and Lydia both cried when they caught up with Puck. Puck was at the nurses' station asking for some information while Quinn was getting set up in her room with the baby. "How is she?" Lydia demanded, she was full of excitement, she couldn't wait to see her granddaughter, see her, hold her, love her.<p>

"Perfect, she's perfect," Puck sighed, he was love struck, "she looks exactly like Beth," he told them as they walked towards the room.

"And does she have a name yet?" Judy asked.

"Not yet," Puck replied. "Quinn wants to wait until Beth gets here before we settle on a name for her," he explained. "Hey," he said as he entered the room first. "Our moms are here," he informed Quinn, she looked amazing, he'd thought she would look exhausted but she didn't, she looked amazing. "Ok for them to come in?" he asked.

"Of course," Quinn replied, she shuffled slightly in the bed, "can you give me a hand?" she asked with a little pout, things were a tad more tender than she remembered from before.

"Hi," Judy said quietly as she moved past Puck, "oh, sweetie, she is so beautiful," she crooned. "Oh, Lydia, look at her," she sniffed. Both of the ladies were instantly smitten, they fell in love, so deeply in love. "May I?" Judy asked. Quinn nodded, she was an inch away from crying herself, she knew her mom would have tears in her eyes too, and so would Lydia.

"So, have you even got a short list of names?" Lydia asked as she leaned over to see the baby's beautiful face. "Wow, she is Beth's double, isn't she?" she whispered. Puck put his arm around his mom's shoulders and nodded as he looked at the baby too, he felt so proud, and emotional, more so than he would have ever suspected.

* * *

><p>"Hello," Shelby whispered, she'd knocked on the door and opened it slightly. "Can we come in?" she asked.<p>

"Of course," Quinn replied and glanced over to where Puck had fallen asleep on the short sofa, his hand resting gently in the crib, which was by his side, he'd taken the baby over there after the moms had left, when Quinn had drifted off to sleep, when the exhaustion had finally taken over. "Hi," she whispered as Beth skipped over to the edge of her bed.

"Can I see the baby?" Beth asked, she was so excited, she was nearly trembling with it.

"Yes," Quinn answered, she lowered her bed so that she could get out of it with a little more ease. "Could you pass me that robe, please, sweetie?" she asked Beth and pointed to the pretty, floral garment that was draped over the end of the bed. "Thank you," she said as Beth handed it to her. Quinn walked the few steps over to the crib that Puck was guarding even in his sleep, she felt every single step in places that she didn't even want to think about. "Here she is, she really, really looks like you did," she told Beth quietly.

Beth gripped the edge of the clear plastic crib and stared, wide-eyed, at her tiny sister. "Wow," she whispered, she couldn't blink, she didn't want to blink. "Did I really look like that?" she asked Quinn, she was full of awe, she couldn't remember being so tiny, she was sure she must have been, but it seemed so surreal.

"Yep, you did," Puck mumbled as he slowly came awake. "So do you like her?" he asked, Beth nodded. "And did you come up with an idea for a name for her?" he asked her, again Beth nodded. "Let's hear it," he suggested and shifted so that Beth could climb up onto his knee and see into the crib better.

Beth looked at everyone looking at her, she loved being the center of attention. Beth took a deep breath to prepare herself to ask, and then she did it, then she came out with it, and shocked Quinn, Puck and Shelby. "Can we call her Toria? She is my best friend after all."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied, the author does not make any profit from this work of fiction.**

**A/N: Life can be hard sometimes, and **_**that**_** is the plain and simple truth...**

After three days, when they were finally at home, they made the decision. "I just don't see her as a Toria," Quinn wailed, she was stood, staring into the bassinet, her hands were on her face, she looked like a flesh and blood copy of The Scream. "I know that Beth picked it and I know we asked her to contribute, and I feel like such a bitch, but I'm just not feeling love for the name Toria. Victoria isn't doing it for me either," she pouted and thought about crying, but that was purely hormonal and nothing to do with the immediate situation.

"It's a good job we didn't complete the birth certificate yet," Puck said with a quiet laugh, he was glad that Quinn had said it, because he wasn't over keen on the name either. He leaned over and picked up one of the baby name books that were left over from the name game from the baby shower. "Phew," he sighed, "there's a lot to choose from," he said. "I don't totally mind the sound, the way the name flows," he added, he sounded distracted while glancing through page after page. "Hey, how about this?" he suggested, catching Quinn's attention away from their beautiful baby. "Taliah?" he offered with a hopeful look on his face. "It's not a million miles away," he added, "it means dew from heaven," he said and hoped that it might sway Quinn into making a decision.

"Taliah," Quinn repeated quietly, she looked deep in thought. "Taliah," she said again. "Dew from heaven. Taliah. Taliah Puckerman," she expanded. "Taliah _Noa_ Puckerman," she announced happily.

"No, you wouldn't," Puck sighed, his shoulders slumped, he couldn't believe she'd do that to their child, saddle her with that name...and then he looked at Quinn's happy face. Yes she would.

"Beth is Bethany Quinn," Quinn reminded him, "it only seems fair that we use a derivative of your name for her middle name," she told him with a huge smile.

"So, what if we have a son in the future?" Puck bargained, even though he hoped that she would never inflict his name on any kid at all, girl or boy, ever.

"Let me know when they perfect male pregnancy," Quinn retorted smugly and then glared at Puck.

"I guess sex is out of the question then," Puck muttered under his breath without commenting to Quinn outright.

"No shit, Sherlock," Quinn muttered back. "And daddy is never coming near mommy ever, ever, ever again, is he baby? No he isn't, no he isn't, no, that's right, no," she said to the blinking baby, her voice sounded so happy, the usual baby talk taking on quite a new meaning. "But that's ok because he has two hands, he can use those, can't he? Yes he can, yes he can, yes he..." she stopped abruptly when Puck cut her off.

"Yeah and you have a mouth too, so," Puck grumbled and gave his head diva-style shake, "it doesn't have to be anything towards procreation to have sexual fulfillment," he reminded Quinn. "Can you have coffee yet?" he asked, he hoped the answer would be yes and then maybe Quinn's disposition towards him might improve.

"Not while I'm breastfeeding," Quinn sighed. "At least I don't think I can, I might have to check Google for that one, I've forgotten everything the lactation nurses told me, except to have a drink of water and a snack whenever I feed her. Yeah, like I need any more weight on me," she grumbled with a glance down at the stomach that wasn't as reduced as she'd hoped it was going to be.

"You look luscious," Puck complimented, Quinn stopped what she was doing and looked at Puck, she looked at him in total disbelief. "Seriously, you look amazingly luscious," he said again and saw the bloom of pleasure on her face. "Yay, mark one up on the positive side. I wonder if I dare try for a blow job while she's in a good mood, probably not, not if I want my balls to stay attached to my body," his own voice said in his head, he knew better than to say that out loud. He wondered if he should add that it was because her boobs looked like they were overflowing that she looked so luscious, or whether that would be overkill. Probably overkill. He kept that to himself.

* * *

><p>"And her actual name is?" Jenna asked, her face full of expectation. "Come on, Jake has money riding on this," she muttered.<p>

Puck glanced at his brother. "Money on it?" he asked the younger man.

"Yeah, well, dad bet that you would name her after your mom and I said that you would stay close to the name that Beth suggested," Jake admitted, he knew that Puck hadn't really been that enamoured of the name that Beth had suggested and had talked to his dad about it.

"You know me so much better than the epic ass does," Puck replied with a grin and slapped Jake's shoulder. Puck leaned into the bassinet and picked up his tiny daughter. "So, meet your niece, Taliah Noa Puckerman," he announced to his brother and sister. "That was Quinn's idea," he added with the hint of a grimace, when Jenna snickered and repeated the name Noa under her breath.

"Lydia will be pleased, they're both Jewish names," Jake murmured quietly, he wasn't sure if Quinn had noted that part. "She's coming over this afternoon with your nana Beth, she said to tell you when I picked Jenna up," he informed Puck. "Dad said he'll drop by at the weekend," he remembered to add, both Jake and Puck glanced at each other with an eyebrow each raised just slightly.

"I know, so is Beth," Quinn said as she caught the tail-end of the conversation. "He just called to make sure it's ok to come. And by the way, the only part of either of their names that isn't Hebrew-based is Quinn," she commented. "And the only reason that Taliah is having Noa for her middle name is because we are never having any more children, ever. I'd forgotten every single part of the labour and the delivery, I'd blocked it out probably, but now I remember everything, from both times, in glorious, painful, technicolour, so no, we won't be doing that again," she said confidently. "Not unless your brother works out way of doing it for himself."

"Doesn't seem to be a lot of promise in your future, buddy," Jake whispered to Puck. Puck shrugged and rolled his eyes, he already knew it, she'd been saying it for days, and according to some of the guys in his squadron, some of their wives actually meant it. Puck hoped to God that Quinn wasn't one of them. Knowing his luck, she probably was.

* * *

><p>"Taliah?" Beth copied the name quietly. "Taliah, Taliah, Taliah," she said over and over, trying the name out. "It's nearly like Toria, isn't it?" she asked.<p>

"It nearly is," Quinn agreed, "but Taliah is the closest we could find in the Hebrew baby books," she said. "See, the baby has to have a Hebrew name, like you do," she said and saw surprise on Beth's face, "because when daddy goes to temple to tell the rabbi her name, she has to have a proper Hebrew name," she told the little girl. "See, when you were just a week old, just before your momma officially adopted you, me and your daddy went to temple, he told the rabbi your name and all the people there said prayers for you," she said and noted the happy surprise on Beth's face. "And when the cantor announced your name for the prayers, he called you Beth bat Noach, which means Beth, daughter of Noah, because that's daddy's name, Noah," she explained. "And when daddy goes to temple next week, he'll tell the rabbi the baby's name, he'll tell him that she is Taliah bat Noach, Taliah, daughter of Noah, ok?" she said, and saw that Beth understood. "And because you go to temple with your momma, Taliah will go to temple with Puck, instead of going to church with me, because we want you both to be the same," she said firmly.

"Are you sure you want to do it that way?" Puck asked again, he didn't want her to do this now in the heat of the moment, half an hour after they'd been arguing about that very same thing, about whether they would opt to follow the Christian or Jewish faith for the baby. Puck's argument that both Beth and Taliah would be the same if they chose to involve her in his faith had been the decider for Quinn.

"Yes, I'm sure," Quinn replied softly. "You were right, we want them both to have as similar a background as possible," she agreed. Puck smiled and drew her close to his chest to hug her. "You can thank me later," she mumbled into his shirt. "You can get up for the night time feed."

"Not unless you decant some first," Puck reminded her, they'd talked about mixed feeding and the lactation nurse had advised against it, she'd even advised against pumping and using bottles, at least in the first few weeks, unless it was absolutely vital. Quinn looked up and pulled a face. "You can stay asleep, I'll help her to get what she needs from you," Puck offered quietly, he'd read about a woman in a coma, giving birth and then breastfeeding her baby for three months, with help from lactation nurses and her husband, before she'd woken up, thinking that she was still six months pregnant. Puck understood the concept of how to achieve the goal, he only hoped that Taliah was sufficiently experienced at nursing after only six days of doing it, to be able to latch on with his support and to nurse until she was satisfied.

"It's worth a try," Quinn mumbled even more quietly, she was so exhausted and close to actual meltdown. "Well, she's hungry now, or at least I think she probably is, so pass her to me and you can get the door," she sighed. "If it isn't anyone important, send them away, tell them to come back another day," she begged quietly. Puck nodded and stroked her cheek before he went to answer the door.

"Dad, hi," Puck called quite loudly, so that Quinn could cover herself as she was probably nursing the baby by now.

"Noah," Jim Puckerman said heartily, and held out his arms to hug his son.

"You ok?" Puck asked, a bit perturbed by this unusual display of love and emotion from a father he barely knew.

"Yes, I'm just so pleased that you finally made me a grandpa," Jim cried, happily. "I mean, me, a grandpa, can you believe it?" he demanded and then laughed loudly, he followed Puck to the lounge.

Puck glanced at Quinn, at the blanket covered form of their daughter, at Beth playing quietly in the corner with her trucks. "Dad, you've been a grandpa for nearly seven years, you just didn't bother to get involved when the rest of us were given the opportunity," he replied, disappointed with the man once more. "Beth, sweetie, come and see grandpa Jim," he called. "Let's see how you do with your grandkids, because you weren't exactly shit hot as a dad," he muttered quietly to the blushing man. To Jim, the afternoon suddenly seemed to stretch out before him like an eternity.

* * *

><p>"Come on, baby, let's see if we can do it this way," Puck whispered and followed exactly how the lactation nurse had helped the baby to latch on in the hospital. Puck watched for a moment, felt her head as he cradled it, felt the slight working of her jaw as she gulped and swallowed. "And even daddy can breastfeed," he whispered triumphantly, so proud of his success.<p>

"Not without mommy's boobs," Quinn muttered without even opening her eyes.

"But I'm good," Puck insisted, he could think of many men who wouldn't have even considered doing this to help their wife, they would have just woken her and expected her to get on with it.

"You're still not getting any," Quinn reminded Puck, "not for weeks and weeks and weeks an..." her words slid away as sleep reclaimed her. Puck continued to hold the baby in position, over the top of Quinn's arms, cradling both of them .

"Done on that side?" Puck asked when the baby had stopped swallowing for more than a few moments. "Let's see if we can do it on the other one," he murmured. "Here we go, and once again, success," he sighed. "I think it's probably because daddy likes boobs so much," he informed his tiny daughter. "Especially mommy's boobs, they're awesome, totally awesome," he added with absolute honesty. "And the truth is, your mommy's boobs are the most awesome boobs I have ever, ever seen," he declared quietly.

"Good job," Quinn murmured tiredly. She couldn't believe how surreal that had been, the whole experience. She could feel her arms wrapped loosely around the baby, she could feel Puck's arms around her, she'd felt him guiding her breast to the baby's lips, felt him help the baby to find a good sucking position. Quinn knew it was a good sucking position because she'd only felt the sharp tug of the baby drawing the nipple into her mouth for a few seconds, less than a minute, a lot less, and when she was attached in a poor position, it hurt a lot more than that. "Expert," she added and smiled in her snoozey, sleepy state.

"Diaper time," Puck sighed and shuffled around to take the baby to the dresser to change her. "Good job it's only a wet one," he whispered to himself. "Night, baby," he whispered when he laid the baby back in the co-sleeper bassinet that was attached to Quinn's side of their bed. "This is all pretty awesome," he murmured into Quinn's shoulder, when he was snuggled up close behind her, he was peeking over her shoulder at the baby, who was fast asleep, he looked at Quinn, who was so deeply asleep, a bomb probably wouldn't wake her. And then he thought about himself, he was so wide awake and buzzed that he thought it might be a good idea to get up and do some stuff downstairs, rather than toss and turn all night and waken Quinn. Or Quinnzilla as she was also known when she didn't get enough sleep.

* * *

><p>"Close my eyes and see the crowd, but my fingers don't make any sound, my air guitar, air guitar," Puck sang, he was dancing round the kitchen with the mop, cleaning the floor as he went. "Like this," he sang and pulled faces while using the mop as a make-believe guitar, really getting in to the spirit of the song, he was quite glad he'd flicked the radio on to the local rock station. Not that McBusted songs were particularly rock songs, but they did ok. "You think there's nothing there, it's simply made of ai..."<p>

"What the hell are you doing?" Quinn asked from the doorway, she was grinning and shaking her head.

"Washing the kitchen floor," Puck replied, blushing madly at being caught singing and being stupid. "I did the laundry already," he told her, quite proudly. He smiled winningly at Quinn. "Does that count as pulling my weight?" he asked. "And I helped Taliah to eat too, so I'm really trying in the daddy stakes," he explained.

"It does sound nice, Taliah," Quinn said, repeating the name they'd decided on for the baby while conveniently ignoring all of Puck's positive contributions to the household.

"That's good, because I filled in the birth certificate, we just have to get it notarised and I emailed Rabbi Ledermann, ready for next week, it's a good job she's not a boy, he'd have to have his bris tomorrow, on the eighth day, regardless of if you've picked a name or not," Puck reminded her, Quinn poked her tongue out at him. "Did you sleep some more?" he asked and continued to mop the floor.

"I did, thanks," Quinn sighed with pleasure. "Taliah is still asleep, I have the monitor here," she said and indicated the small device attached to her clothes. "And I checked on Google, I can drink decaf coffee, thank the Lord," she added the last part to herself. "And Beth wants to come and stay next weekend, even though it's not really her weekend, but I said that she could if she wanted to," she blurted out.

"It's fine by me," Puck agreed immediately. "Did Jake call back yet?" he asked. "I think I left my phone upstairs," he added and then realised that he did because Quinn was holding it out to him. "And that's what woke you, right? Beth called me and it woke you," he surmised.

"Doesn't matter," Quinn said and tiptoed into the kitchen on the freshly mopped floor. "So, I was thinking, we could have a really great breakfast, then we could get ready and go into school for a couple of hours, I promised some of the kids that I'd bring her in for them to see once she was born and I haven't yet, I feel so guilty," she finished on a semi-wail.

"Plus you want to see how Julia and Connor are getting on, without actually calling at his house, right?" Puck asked, he knew the real reason that Quinn wanted to go into school, she wanted Julia to see how well she looked just two weeks after delivery, she wanted Julia to see that managing it all was entirely possible. "Cool, so, I'll get breakfast started, you go nap or rest or whatever, you can shower after Taliah has her next meal, I'll shower while you feed her, then we'll all go, Connor can see how much a hands on dad has to do, right?" he asked, Quinn nodded. "Go sit down, I'll do breakfast," he advised, Quinn left the kitchen to lie down on the sofa. Within minutes she was asleep again. Puck checked the time, it was barely seven in the morning, he had no idea what time he'd been awake since, but breakfast could wait a while.

* * *

><p>"Mrs Puckerman," Julia cried as she was the first to spot Quinn in the doorway to her classroom.<p>

"Sorry to interrupt," Quinn apologised to the substitute teacher, she'd rather hoped it was going to be Holly Holiday, but the woman looked pleasant enough, "but I did promise I would bring the baby in for everyone to see," she explained.

"Come in, come in," the substitute said in welcome. She liked to look at babies as much as anyone.

"So, here she is, this is Taliah Noa Puckerman," Quinn introduced as she lifted the baby from the car seat that Puck had carried in. "I know, I know, a big long name for a tiny girl," she mocked herself. "But here she is," she said again as she stripped off her outer clothing to the pretty little dress that had been one of the gifts at the baby shower.

"Does she sleep through the night?" a girl at the back asked.

"God, no," Puck laughed, "she's only a week old, she sleeps a lot, but she wakes up to eat every couple of hours too," he explained.

"And is it all left to you, Mrs Puckerman?" Connor asked, with a sly smirk at Puck.

"Hey, I do my share," Puck pointed out. "I'm on paternity leave right now, which means I'm at home to help take care of her, do the heavy stuff around the house," he explained and perched on the edge of an empty desk as Quinn sat down on the seat.

"He was mopping the kitchen floor at six this morning," Quinn pointed out, quite proudly, actually, "and he'd already done the laundry and by that I mean all of the washing, the drying and the ironing. Thank God for military men, that's what I say," she said to the teacher. "At least they're totally self-sufficient."

"My husband wouldn't know one end of a mop from the other," the teacher grumbled, and looked at Puck with impressed eyes, "and as for the washing machine, I'm not even sure he knows where it is," she pouted.

"See boys, some of this stuff is good to learn," Puck advised the young men in the class, "you've no idea when it could come in useful."

"And it earns you so many bonus points with your wife or girlfriend," Quinn added, "so next time Puck mentions going skiing with the guys, or maybe taking off for the weekend, flying somewhere exotic, he thinks I'm going to say, sure honey, go ahead, I owe you," she teased.

Puck shrugged and looked sheepish, but winked daringly at Connor. "Oh, yeah," he mouthed silently and nodded smugly. Connor was well used to the workings of airmen and their escapades, he knew they worked hard and they played hard too. Connor grinned back and nodded.

"May I hold her?" Julia dared to ask.

"Sure," Quinn replied, she was pleased that the girl had the bottle to ask. "Come and sit over here," she suggested, rising from the seat. Once Julia was seated, Quinn gently laid her daughter in the young girl's arms. "Practice?" she whispered.

Julia nodded with a little giggle. "She is so tiny," she whispered to Quinn. "My nephews all felt incredibly heavy compared to her, she feels like a little feather in my arms," she said in amazement.

"Trust me, she didn't feel tiny," Quinn murmured for Julia's ears only. Quinn knew that Julia was attending Lamaze classes with Connor and Cathy, Cathy was acting as support for both of the teenagers, a suggestion that had come from Quinn, one that Cathy had immediately picked up on as incredibly important.

"When are you coming back to school?" Julia asked, her gaze was still on the beautiful little girl in her arms.

"Not until September, I'm afraid," Quinn replied and stroked her baby's head. "Puck doesn't get that much time off, unfortunately, but I'm going to take advantage of summer vacation tagged onto the end of my maternity leave and then come back to start the new academic year fresh and ready to go," she explained. "I just have to find some suitable day care," she sighed, and then pushed that thought to the back of her mind.

The rest of the visit was pleasant, Taliah was a smash hit in the teachers' lounge, Quinn took a moment to call in to see the principal to confirm exactly how much of her time off would be calculated as maternity leave and how much as vacation time.

"Hi," Connor said as soon as he saw Puck walking towards the principal's office with the car seat and the baby, he assumed it was to meet Mrs Puckerman. "Can I talk to you?" he asked Puck, he looked around to make sure they weren't being overheard.

"Sure," Puck replied and quickly tucked his phone away in his pocket, he'd been in the process of texting Quinn to tell her he was coming to meet her. "What's up?" he asked, focusing his attention on the boy.

"How long before the birth did Mrs P stop wanting to...wanting...crap," Connor stuttered, the question was obviously harder to ask than he'd initially thought.

Puck checked through the window in a classroom door, the room was empty, he tried the handle and it was unlocked. "Come in here," he suggested to Connor. "Ok, so when did she stop wanting to have sex?" Puck asked bluntly. Connor blushed and nodded. "Well, there were some days when she didn't want to and there were some days that she did, it just depended how the baby was laying in her stomach, if she was pressing on any nerves or something," he explained. "She was the same last time too, when we were your age," he said, Connor's eyes bugged wide. "Crap," Puck sighed when he realised that although they'd told the teens that _he'd _been involved in a teen pregnancy, they'd never explained Quinn's involvement in it too. "Look, keep this to yourself, no one else needs to know this," he said and decided to divulge everything. "Quinn and I had a daughter when we were sixteen, we gave her up for adoption, we're just getting to know her now, her mother allows us monthly access, Beth is amazing, she is a unique and amazing individual and I will always be grateful that she is in my life," he explained. "Do I wish we had kept her? Hell yes," he asked and answered himself. "I know that Quinn regrets it too and has done every day since we signed the papers, but we weren't in a good place right then, we were the same age as you and it's hard, it's damn hard, especially if you don't have the support," he advised.

"I guess we're lucky, my mom and dad and my brothers have been amazing," Connor said thoughtfully. "My whole family, actually, my dad's parents too, we've never met my mom's family, they disowned her when she got pregnant in high school too," he explained, this was something he'd only learned since breaking the news of his own impending fatherhood.

"Yeah, Quinn's family were a bit like that," Puck revealed. "They came around, eventually," he said with a snort of laughter at how many years it had taken for Russell Fabray to accept Puck into his family, and there were still times that Puck had his doubts, although Russell seemed to really dote on both Beth and Taliah.

"Her family never have and Jules's dad seems a bit like that too," Connor frowned. "It's like he doesn't want Julia to live there with him anymore, I mean, I'm not complaining about that, it's great that she lives at my house, it means I can keep a close eye on her, make sure she's not doing too much, make sure that she's eating right," he said. "My mom still doesn't let us share a room though," he sighed sadly.

"My mom was like that when Quinn first came to live with us," Puck laughed, he leaned back in the chair, he was transported back about eight years. "She threatened to send me to live with my nana when she caught me in Quinn's room, I mean, like it could get any worse, right?" he joked with Connor. "She couldn't get any more pregnant, right?" he asked, Connor agreed. "But moms don't see it like that, they just see that you've done things that mean you have to grow up real fast, a lot faster than they wanted you to, a lot faster than _they're_ ready for you to do," he explained, but that really was only his take on it, he hoped he wasn't too far from the truth. "See, me and Quinn, even though we kept it a secret for a long time, we were together for almost the whole of high school, there were only a few times that we argued, split up, dated other people, but mostly it was just us, and no one ever knew it because I was never going to fit Quinn's idea of the right guy for her, I was her bit of rough, her guilty pleasure," he revealed, with a deep down touch of sadness that had never quite gone away. "To be fair, I was an asshole and a complete waste of space back then," Puck admitted quite honestly. "We met up again when we went back to high school for the ending of the glee club, and the sparks just reignited," he said and remembered leaving Quinn in the locker room, after he had bared his heart and soul to her, after he'd watched her struggle to even reply, when he'd thought that all hope was lost and then that magical moment, that touch on his shoulder, that moment when he had turned to her, when she had claimed him, so publicly, so finally, that moment that she'd asked him, begged him, to stay. "And we've been together ever since, through the rest of Quinn's years at Yale, through my deployments to the Middle East and to Europe," he stated, he had to make Connor understand that, even though he loved every second of his life with Quinn, it wasn't easy.

"How long have you been married?" Connor asked, breaking into Puck's thoughts.

"It will be a year in August," Puck replied and grinned. "Yes, I know, Taliah happened first," he added quietly and rolled his eyes, slightly embarrassed by the look from Connor. "But we'd already booked everything, even the caterer was booked, so it wasn't like we rushed to get married _because _of Taliah," he explained. "To be honest, I would have married her when we had Beth but that wouldn't have made it the right thing to do," he added, and noted how Connor looked away slightly. Puck paused for a second. "Did you ask Julia to marry you?" he fished.

"I asked, she said she'd think about it," Connor mumbled, clearly uncomfortable at revealing the information.

"May I offer some advice?" Puck asked. Connor took a deep breath and then nodded. "Don't rush into anything without discussing it with your parents first. They may seem like old people to you, they may seem like they don't know anything about how teenagers feel these days, but I'm willing to bet that they know more than you think," he stated and saw a flicker of understanding in Connor's eyes. "They were in your position once," he reminded the boy. "So was I," he said again, "I know that you want to do the right thing, your heart is crying out for you to do that, to stand up and be a man, right?" he asked, again, Connor nodded. "Well, doing the right thing isn't always the simplest of options. Doing the right thing, for me and Quinn, was letting Beth go, and that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, that we've both ever had to do," he revealed quietly.

"I get it," Connor murmured, "thanks," he added and then stood up and shook Puck's outstretched hand. "I'll talk to my dad tonight," he promised.

"Good enough," Puck replied and then picked up the sleeping baby and headed off to meet Quinn.

* * *

><p>"So?" Quinn quizzed as Puck secured Taliah's car seat into position. "Did you talk to him?" she asked.<p>

"Yes, and I managed to contrive it so that it looked like an accidental meeting too," Puck said and then mocked Quinn slightly with his wide eyes. "Hi, Brian, it's Puck," he said into his phone when the call was answered. "Well, I think you were probably right, it did seem like he's at least asked her, even if they haven't actually made any plans," he explained, "but I told him some stuff, personal stuff, nothing that's a national secret or anything, but I think I got through, I'd expect him making an appointment to chat with you real soon," he told the relieved father.

"Thanks, Puck, I really appreciate this, Cathy does too," Brian Windle sighed with relief. "You've no idea how scared we've been, especially since Cathy found out that he sneaks into his old room every night," he added.

"Can't fault him, I used to do that too, when Quinn was pregnant with Beth and living at my house with my family," Puck replied. "Made it even more exciting because my mom had banned me from being in my room at all, unless it was to collect something," he explained. "I just made sure I had to collect a lot of stuff and then I'd sneak back in once I knew my mom was asleep, I mean, come on Brian, you know how horny pregnant chicks get, shit, you've done it how many times? Three? Four? Do you know any teenager who is going to pass that up?" he asked, even though Quinn batted him on the shoulder for being crude. "No, me either."

"Thanks, Puck," Brian said again and ended the call. "Yep, we did hear right," he reported to his wife, "he did ask her to marry him," he sighed. "But he's right, you know," he added, "making that room off-limits to him is making it more and more exciting to be in there with her," he explained. "And she isn't going to be pregnant for forever," he reminded Cathy. "I think we should sit down and have an adult discussion with them both, if they think they want to be in a proper, committed, relationship, then I don't think we should stand in their way, I think they should be given the opportunity to find out what exactly that entails, they're going to be connected for long, long time, through the baby, regardless of if they stay together or not," he said, his argument well thought out and firmly delivered.

Cathy nodded and sighed slightly. "I know you're right," she said quietly, "but at the same time, he's still my little boy," she whispered, her voice had almost disappeared amid her tears.

"He was man enough to make a child," Brian pointed out, "let's let him be man enough to take care of it," he encouraged. Cathy nodded and threw herself into her husbands arms, and the truth was, she wasn't devastated by this as much as she thought she'd be, not since the ultrasound last week had shown - finally - that the baby her son's girlfriend was carrying, was a little girl, finally, a replacement for the daughter she had lost all those years ago. This was her Joanna, returned to her. Finally.


End file.
